Chinese authorities issue weather alert on Wednesday February 21 in the face of an intense cold wave. Temperatures could drop by 6 to 12 degrees by Friday in southern areas, where mildness is generally expected in winter.
In some places in the provinces of Guizhou, Hunan, Jiangxi and the Guangxi region, the mercury could even drop by more than 20 degrees. In Beijing, where temperatures hovered around freezing on Wednesday, residents woke up to a capital covered in white following heavy snowfall overnight.