BEIJING - A cold wave will hit northern parts of China over the next two days with temperatures likely to drop by as much as 14 degrees Celsius in some parts of the country, the National Meteorological Center (NMC) forecast on Wednesday.

On Wednesday evening, the NMC issued a blue-coded alert, the least serious level in China's four-color coded weather warning system after red, orange and yellow.

From Wednesday night to Friday, strong winds will sweep northern and eastern Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, most parts of Gansu province, Ningxia Hui autonomous region, northern Qinghai province, northern Shaanxi province and western Inner Mongolia autonomous region, the NMC said in its latest weather forecast.

Temperatures are expected to drop 6 to 10 degrees Celsius in these areas while regions like Xinjiang, Gansu and Inner Mongolia will suffer a sharp decline of 12 to 14 degrees

Rain and snow is expected in the eastern parts of west China, Inner Mongolia and north China while snowstorms are forecast in central and southeastern Inner Mongolia and the far northern parts of China.