As the new cold front moves eastward from Sunday to Tuesday, many areas in central and eastern China will be hit by rain. Snow is expected to fall in parts of Beijing and in the provinces of Hebei and Shanxi, and blizzards are forecast to hit some parts of the Inner Mongolia autonomous region and Heilongjiang province, the center said.

It added that the cold front was predicted to bring rain and snow to central and eastern China from Sunday to Monday.

From 8 am on Saturday to 6 am on Sunday, heavy and torrential rain hit Sichuan, Guizhou, Zhejiang, Guangdong and Fujian provinces. Particularly battered were Mianyang and Guangyuan in Sichuan, and Guangzhou in Guangdong.

Many areas in North China and northern regions along the Yangtze River saw temperatures drop between 6 C and 10 C at 5 am on Sunday, compared with the same time the previous day, the center said.