Northern regions might see fog lasting from Jan 31 until Feb 5

People in most parts of China will experience mild weather conditions over the weeklong Spring Festival holiday, but some northern regions may encounter heavy fog beginning on Tuesday, the meteorological authority said on Wednesday.

Central and southern regions may experience warmer weather over the holiday, starting on Friday, Lunar New Year's Eve, with only a few areas forecast to experience light rainfall, according to Ma Xuekuan, chief forecaster at the National Meteorological Center.

Northern regions are forecast to see temperature fluctuations due to two short cold fronts expected to hit the region before and after the Spring Festival, which falls on Saturday, Ma said.

Some northern regions, in particular the provinces of Hebei, Henan, Shanxi and Shaanxi, may experience fog due to a lack of wind from Tuesday to Feb 5.

The fog is expected to peak on Feb 1 and 2, the last two days of the weeklong holiday, and visibility in certain areas may be reduced to about 200 meters, Ma said.

He added that it is likely to cause traffic congestion as many expressways will be closed.

"Beginning on Tuesday, a lack of wind will result in airborne pollutants lingering in northern regions," Ma said.

Windless weather has been blamed as a reason for severe smog by authorities, while the China Meteorological Administration has requested its branches stop releasing smog forecasts.

"The meteorological and environmental authorities are working together on smog forecasts to build unified standards and a channel for releasing information to avoid conflicting forecasts being issued by the respective departments," said Zhou Bing, chief engineer at the National Climate Center.

The Ministry of Environmental Protection's National Environmental Monitoring Center has said that some regions of Hebei, Shanxi and Henan provinces will experience severe air pollution on Saturday, which may ease on Sunday.

However, no detailed forecasts on smog for the weeklong holiday are available.

In Beijing, air pollution will reach a severe level on Saturday before easing on Sunday, according to the Beijing Environmental Protection Bureau.