A strong cold front will sweep across northern China and help disperse the persistent smog that covers a vast part of the country, the national observatory forecast on Wednesday.
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By early Wednesday, the cold air had arrived in Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region in north China and some northwestern regions, the National Meteorological Center said in a statement.
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The cold front will move south to sweep across northern China, bringing temperature drops of up to 14 degrees Celsius.
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Lingering smog in Tianjin will be dispersed after plaguing northern and central China for almost a week, the NMC said.
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The center has issued 12 alerts for smoggy weather since Feb. 20, with 9 yellow alerts and 3 orange alerts. China's meteorological alerts are labeled blue, yellow, orange and red in order of ascending severity.