Cold snap brings winter back to Xinjiang and Gansu
冷空氣使新疆甘肅重回冬天

China's northwest regions of Xinjiang and Gansu have been experiencing a lot of extreme weather since the start of the spring season.

Affected by the cold wave coming in from Siberia, heavy snow has hit the northern part of Xinjiang's Yili, Bozhou, Tacheng and Tianshan areas since Tuesday. The temperature dropped by five to eight degrees Celsius, and it brought the region "back to winter overnight". Meanwhile,dusty weather has swept northern China since last weekend, bringing strong winds and dust to Xinjiang, Inner Mongolia, Gansu, Ningxia and Shaanxi. Jiuquan city in Gansu province even experienced strong sandstorms yesterday. It is already the fourth time this year that sandstorms have hit the country's northern regions -- double the number during the same period last year.

A sudden snowfall has hit China's northwest Xinjiang region. In Qinghe county -- of Xinjiang's north A'letai area -- local houses and streets are covered in sheets of white. Residents say it's unusual to see such extreme weather in April.

"There wasn't too much snow yesterday. But overnight the snow was so heavy. The weather was warm two days ago but then it turns to be like this. I am still not used to the change," Local resident Zhang Lucheng said.

The snow is as thick as 20 centimeters in some places in the city. But the cold weather snap has provided rural areas with the greatest problems. In Fuhai county -- of A’letai area -- the local farmers say half of their 5,000 wheat crops have been damaged and 1,600 sheep were lost in the heavy snowstorm. The local agricultural department predicts the total economic loss could reach 270,000 yuan.

"We will give the technical guidance to our farmers and try to do some remedial works to minimize the losses," Wang Min with Local Agriculture Technique Promotion Station said.

The National Meteorological Center says the snow and rain is likely to continue there in the coming week. But, thankfully, weather in Gansu is improving. Just yesterday, Jiuquan -- in the northwest of the province -- was suffering through a brutal sandstorm. Heavy dust and strong winds made it impossible for road travel. In some places, visibility was reduced to less than 30 meters. The Mogao Caves -- a popular local tourist site -- closed down for the day. However, the local meteorology center cancelled the sandstorm alert today as the sky turned blue once again.