Heavy snow falls in Beijing, Tianjin

A snow has blanketed Beijing and Tianjin since Sunday. The snow began on Sunday night in Beijing, with snowstorms hitting some parts of the city, disrupting traffic and lowering temperature.

As the roads are wet and slippery, the entire highway network becomes heavily congested. To ease the traffic pressure at rush hour, about 200 stand-by buses were put into operation, several major metro lines extended their peak time services by one hour and 60 trains were added. The expressway administrations in Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei Province have activated an emergency plan to ensure and maintain safe and smooth traffic. More than 4,000 traffic police were on duty to maintain the traffic order. Weather authorities expected the snow will last until Monday noon.