Prolonged extreme weather continues to sweep across Central and East China. On Sunday morning, China's National Meteorological Center (NMC) issued four extreme weather warnings, including a blue warning for strong winds, an orange warning for freezing, an orange warning for blizzards, and a yellow warning for dense fog. Due to the impact of extreme weather, a large number of travelers returning home before the Spring Festival have been stranded on their way, and local authorities and departments are actively taking measures to cope with the situation.
According to the forecast, from 8 am Sunday to 8 am Monday, blizzards are expected to mainly concentrate in the area between central and eastern China, including the eastern part of Henan, the central-northern part of Anhui, the central-northern part of Jiangsu, and the central-eastern part of Shandong, with snowfall of 10 to 13 centimeters expected. Freezing weather, on the other hand, will affect a wider range of provinces including those in East China, Central China, and Southwest China. Dense fog will mainly occur in South China.
Due to the large-scale rain, snow, and freezing weather, both runways at the Wuhan Tianhe Airport were closed on Sunday morning. Some trains departing Wuhan were also suspended, and a number of entrances to highways in Hubei were temporarily closed. As a crucial transportation hub in Central China, the traffic issues in Wuhan have affected a large number of passengers, especially during the busiest inter-provincial transportation period of the year - the Spring Festival travel rush.