BEIJING, Jan. 5 (Xinhua) -- Beijing Capital International Airport reported 231 delayed and 40 canceled outbound flights as of 2 p.m. Tuesday after record heavy snow paralyzed the airport earlier in the week.

    Services were mostly back to normal with the three runways all open Tuesday thanks to more than 300 workers who worked for 60 hours to clear the snow and ice, said a spokesman for the airport management department.

    The airport authorities attributed the disruption mainly to bad weather in airports outside Beijing, including thick fog in southwestern cities like Chongqing, Chengdu, Guangzhou, Urumqi and Guilin, and heavy snow in northeastern cities like Qiqihar, Harbin, Mudanjiang and Changchun.

    As of 2 p.m. Tuesday, 519 flights had landed or left the airport.

    Beijing saw the heaviest daily snowfall in nearly six decades on Sunday, when 832 flights were canceled. The airport reported 690 delayed and 96 canceled flights as of 4 p.m. Monday.


Beijing sees heaviest daily snowfall in nearly six decades 

An ice-sweeping vehicle cleans a plane at the Capital International Airport in Beijing, capital of China, Jan. 3, 2010. Some departure flights were delayed and some were canceled due to the heavy snowfall in Beijing on Sunday. (Xinhua/Ma Ruzhuang) Photo Gallery>>>

    BEIJING, Jan.4 (Xinhua) -- China's capital reported the heaviest daily snowfall in nearly six decades on Sunday, local meteorological bureau said Monday.

    At 10 p.m. Sunday, a major meteorological observatory in the southern suburbs of Beijing recorded a daily snowfall of 10 millimeters, the largest amount in one day since 1951, the bureau noted.Full story 

China sends agricultural experts to guide anti-disaster work

    BEIJING, Jan. 3 (Xinhua) -- The Ministry of Agriculture dispatched Sunday seven working teams to oversee and guide agricultural work in major wheat and vegetable production bases in north China as a strong cold wave had swept across the region from Saturday.

    Snowstorms and a temperature plunge caused by a strong clod snap had hit a vast range of areas in the country, bringing adverse effects on the agricultural production. Full story

HK airport flights struck by Beijing snow

    HONG KONG, Jan. 3 (Xinhua) -- Over 30 flights were canceled or delayed at Hong Kong International Airport on Sunday, due to heavy snow in the country's capital city of Beijing.

    By 21:00 (1300 GMT) local time, seven departure flights to Beijing were canceled and 10 delayed. As for arrivals, eight were canceled and nine delayed, said the spokesman of the department of News Relations from the Hong Kong's Airport Authority. Flights to other cities including Dalian and Tianjing were also affected by the bad weather. Full story

Heavy snow hits north China, disrupting traffic, classes

People queue for entering the subway station in front of the Beijing Railway Station in Beijing, China, Jan. 3, 2010.(Xinhua/Xing Guangli) Photo Gallery>>>

    BEIJING, Jan. 3 (Xinhua) -- Beijing traffic authority has decided to go all out to deal with possible traffic jams or accidents during peak hours Monday morning after a snow storm Sunday caused traffic breakdown in the national capital.

    "Low temperature and ice-covered roads are expected to severely affect local traffic on Monday morning," said Song Jianguo, head of the Beijing Traffic Management Bureau. Full story

China extends alert against cold wave, heavy snow

People ride electric bicycles in the street during a snowfall in Hohhot, north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, Jan. 3, 2010. China's Central Meteorological Station (CMS) on Sunday morning extended the warning against strong cold wave, snowstorm and heavy fog by issuing another orange alert.(Xinhua/Li Yunping) Photo Gallery>>>

    BEIJING, Jan. 3 (Xinhua) -- China's Central Meteorological Station (CMS) on Sunday morning extended the warning against strong cold wave, snowstorm and heavy fog by issuing another orange alert. 
    
    Affected by the strong cold snap, temperature was to fall by 8 to 12 degrees Celsius in central and western Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, eastern parts of northwest China, north China, Guizhou and Chongqing from Sunday to Monday, according to the CMS. Full story

Alert goes orange for cold wave as northern Chinese cities embrace new year's first snow

Photo taken on Jan. 2, 2009, shows a snow-covered car with the characters "the snow falls" in Beijing, China. Beijingers woke up to see the first snowfall of the New Year Saturday, after nearly two months of drought. (Xinhua/Lu Peng) Photo Gallery>>>

    BEIJING, Jan. 2 (Xinhua) -- A strong cold wave will sweep most of China and force down temperature in the coming two days beginning on Saturday as northern Chinese cities such as Beijing, Tianjin and others in Hebei Province embraced new year's first snowfall.

    The Central Meteorological Station (CMS) issued an orange alert for the cold wave, warning that most areas in north, central and east China would suffer temperature drops ranging from 8 to 12 degrees Celsius. Full story 
   

Pedestrains walk on a snow-covered street in Beijing, capital of China, Jan. 4, 2010. Heavy snowfall in the latest weekend affected most traffic in Beijing.(Xinhua/Gong Lei) Photo Gallery>>>