Sepcial Report: Spring Festival Special 2009

    BEIJING, Jan. 22 (Xinhua) -- The first major snowfall brought by the coldest temperatures so far this year disrupted the plans of thousands of travelers in north China on Thursday.

    Eight expressways were closed and traffic on another six was halted in the northeastern Liaoning Province after heavy snow began falling Wednesday night, said a provincial government spokesman.

    The Taoxian International Airport in Shenyang, the provincial capital, closed for at least five hours on Thursday morning. Flights resumed at 11 a.m. after staff finished clearing the snow on the runway, but almost 1,000 passengers were still stranded at 3 p.m..

A bus runs against snow in Shenyang, capital of northeast China's Liaoning Province, Jan. 22, 2009. (Xinhua Photo) Photo Gallery>>>

    More than 30 flights were delayed and the backlog would not be cleared until the evening, said an airport spokesman.

    Hundreds of passengers were stranded in Dandong Airport as five flights were delayed because of the snow in the morning. The staff were still cleaning the snow at 5 p.m.

    Flights to the cities of Shanghai, Shenzhen, Sanya, Chengdu and Beijing were all delayed.

    Airports in Dalian and Jinzhou, in southern Liaoning, were not affected, but airport officials were preparing for bad weather.

    "Many passengers asked us whether flights to Shanghai will take off as scheduled tomorrow. We are just not sure," said an information officer at Jinzhou Airport.

    Slight snow was forecast Thursday night in Dalian.

A bulldozer cleans snow in Shenyang, capital of northeast China's Liaoning Province, Jan. 22, 2009. An overnight snow hit Shenyang for the first time in 2009. (Xinhua Photo) Photo Gallery>>>

    The cold wave has lowered temperatures by 8 to 10 degrees Celsius in China's most northern province of Heilongjiang. They plunged to minus 27 Celsius degrees in Harbin, the provincial capital, according to Heilongjiang Meteorological Station.

    The freezing temperatures are forecast to move south across much of China, and the Central Meteorological Station (CMS) Wednesday issued an orange cold wave alert, the second most critical level after red.

    The orange alert means temperatures are expected to drop by 12 degrees Celsius within 24 hours. It requires local governments to prepare for potential emergencies, including failures in heating and water supplies or traffic blocks, according to the CMS.

    It also warns farmers to take precautions to prevent crop and stock losses.

    "The cold wave is expected to last until Saturday, but low temperatures could linger in south China next week," said CMS chief meteorologist Zong Zhiping.

    In central China's Hubei Province, heavy fog delayed 27 flights and left more than 1,000 passengers stranded Thursday morning at Tianhe International Airport of Wuhan, Hubei's capital.

    The visibility was down to 200 meters at 8:20 a.m., below the 500 meters required for take-off. The service resumed at 10 a.m. after the fog dispersed.