Heavy snow blanketed Beijing and other parts of north China on Tuesday, causing air travel delays and highway closures. The Central Meteorological Station predicts that most parts of China will encounter rain or snow in the coming 3 days, with heavy blizzards expected in the north.

Beijing's snowstorm early Tuesday morning, followed icy thunder storms Monday night.

It was the second bout of snowfall in just eight days for the capital city.

Up to 3,800 police officers were busy directing traffic on main roads.

The temperature dropped sharply to minus 2.5 degrees Celsius.

A Beijing resident said, "It is indeed very cold. I didn't feel it this morning when I went out, but now I'm starting to feel really cold. I can't feel my ears, hands or feet."

Over 150 flights were delayed and 80 were cancelled at the Beijing International Airport on Tuesday.Snow also hit neighboring regions of Shanxi, Hebei and Tianjin.

In Shanxi Province, all 11 highways were closed.

It gave no timetable for reopening as the snow was to last until Thursday.

Zhang Shuxi, Deputy director of Shanxi Traffic Admin. Bureau,said, "The most congested areas are highways from Taiyuan to Luliang, and from Taiyuan to Xinzhou. These two routes are in mountainous areas, and are key passageways for coal transportation. Many trucks have to pass through these areas, and therefore they are very dangerous."

It was the heaviest snowfall in 22 years for the region.

As of this morning, sections of the Beijing-Shenyang highway were reopened but saw heavy traffic. The Tangshan-Tianjin freeway was also reopened, while another six provincial highways still remain closed.

Meanwhile, all flights at Hebei's Shijiazhuang Airport have been cancelled and the provincial meteorological station has declared a yellow warning.

The local authority is forecasting that the temperature will drop to minus 15 to minus 17 degrees Celsius.

Over 30 centimeters of snow covered the roads in Northern Hebei Province.

(CCTV November 12, 2009)