North China Braces for Coldest Weather Since 1950s

January 29, 2010

North China Braces for Coldest Weather Since 1950s (Update1)

By Bloomberg News Jan. 5 (Bloomberg)

Temperatures in northern China may fall to the lowest in half a century,

threatening to disrupt transportation system and power supplies.

Beijing temperatures are forecast to drop as low as minus 16 degrees Celsius

(3.2 degrees Fahrenheit) tonight, according to the China Meteorological

Administration. Northern China may have 50-year low temperatures today, China

Central Television reported yesterday.

Schools in the Chinese capital were shut after it was hit by the heaviest daily

snowfall since 1951 on Jan. 3, the official Xinhua News Agency reported...

UN warns Mongolia's severe weather threatens lives

....The extreme winter in the poor, landlocked country sandwiched between China

and Russia followed a summer drought that prevented farmers from stockpiling

food for livestock.

" The poor did not have the resources to stockpile food or fuel for heating and

the supplies in the now inaccessible villages as a whole are stretched, " said

Rana Flowers, the U.N.'s resident coordinator in Mongolia.

The cold and heavy snow have already killed more than 1 million livestock, the

organization said, citing the National Emergency Management Agency. More than a

third of Mongolians herd livestock for a living.

Flowers said U.N. agencies were trying to reach the worst-hit people, and are

particularly concerned about pregnant women cut off from medical facilities by

the heavy snow _ three have reportedly died in childbirth so far, she said. The

agencies are also worried about pneumonia rates among children and pregnant

women, and increasing malnutrition.

The U.N. is coordinating all donor contributions to Mongolia, after the

government asked for food, medicine, heating supplies, warm clothing and money

to buy and deliver food for livestock, the statement said...

reatens-lives/

Trains stranded by snow in Inner Mongolia

Due to heavy snowfall on Sunday, several trains were delayed and some were

stranded in remote areas in Inner Mongolia, January 4, 2010.

Local government dispatched about 10,000 people including soldiers to the

snow-affected areas to evacuate stranded passengers and clear snow on roads and

railways.

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