Smog envelops China during lantern festival

China's central and eastern parts are expected to be blanketed by heavy fog Sunday, the Chinese Lantern Festival, the National Meteorological Center (NMC) said. The authority issued a yellow smog alert at 10 a.m.. Yellow is the second lowest level in China's four-tier color-coded weather alert system. Thick fog, lowering visibility to less than 1,000 meters, shrouded central and northern parts of Jiangsu and areas in Zhejiang early Sunday morning. Smog choked southern Beijing, and parts of Shanxi, Henan, Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces, according to NMC monitoring data. Smog will cover central and eastern China during Sunday daytime, the center forecast. There will be visibility to less than 1,000 meters in many parts of Jiangsu, Anhui, Shandong and Zhejiang due to fog. In north China, the plains of Huanghuai and Jianghuai, and regions south of the Yangtze River are expected to see some smog, the center said. Zhejiang Province and Shanhai municipality have had alerts for fog and smog since Saturday, according to the NMC. The center warned of a decline in air quality and advised residents in these regions to stay indoors or take precautions. Meanwhile, flurries of snow and sleet will hit Xinjiang Uygur, Tibet, and Inner Mongolia autonomous regions, Qinghai Province, north China and Liaodong Peninsula over the next 24 hours, the NMC said. It also forecast rainfall in the provinces of Shandong and Hunan, southwestern China, south China, and Taiwan.