Snow warning issued as cold front grips N China

HARBIN - A snowfall warning was issued and sections of an expressway were closed in northeast China on Monday, with many parts of the region bracing for a sweeping cold front.

The first snowfall warning was issued in northeast China's Liaoning province by the provincial meteorological observatory, marking the region's first snow of the winter.

The warning said the provincial capital of Shenyang and nearby counties should expect to see moderate amounts of snow.

Some sections of a provincial expressway linking Xifeng county and the city of Kaiyuan were closed over safety concerns.

The cold front has brought temperatures down by 6 to 8 degrees Celsius, according to statistics released by the meteorological observatory.

The city of Harbin in northeast China's Heilongjiang province is also expected to see its first snowfall. The local government has already turned on the city's public heating amid a shortage of heating engineers in the city.

"Engineers for heating equipment installation and maintenance are in great demand," said Zhang Yanrong, a recruiter from a local property management company.

The cold front has also extended to Beijing, with the city seeing lows of 3 degrees Celsius on Monday, the National Meteorological Center said.

Beijing's municipal commission for city administration and environment said that it will switch on the city's public heating if the cold temperatures persist.

Beijing's public heating is usually activated on November 15 every year.

Extreme weather also extended to the city of Tianmen in central China's Hubei province, where heavy downpours caused a three-story work shed at a construction site to collapse, killing one worker and injuring 23 others.