Vehicles run on snow-covered road at northwest China's Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in this Nov. 22, 2015 photo. (Photo : Xinhua)
Traffic has resumed in snowstorm-hit areas of northern China as the highways and airports were reopened as of Monday morning.
The National Meteorological Center issued an alert that the temperature might fall as much as 12 degrees Celsius this week, reminding drivers and traffic management authorities in the affected areas to pay close attention on road conditions.
The sudden snowfall over the weekend has caused traffic to snarl in Inner Mongolia, Shanxi, Hebei, Liaoning, and Jilin provinces, as well as in Beijing and Tianjin.
After the snow ceased to fall on Monday morning, airports began to resume service.
At Beijing Capital International Airport, over 1,500 flights were scheduled to fly 228,000 passengers on Monday.
Tianjin Binhai International Airport was also opened to inbound and outbound flights after they were suspended for around one day.
Airport personnel immediately started de-icing operations on runways as the snow receded. On Sunday night, both airports announced that they would not accommodate inbound flights and canceled more than 170 flights into Beijing and Tianjin.
According to Beijing's transport commission, traffic in the capital was restored as authorities enforced measures to keep the roads and highways safe. More than 2,500 people were deployed to clean highways with 430 metric tons of anti-slip compounds to ensure most of the highways were cleared of snow, the commission said. However, several expressways connecting Beijing to Shandong Province and neighboring areas still remain closed.
Subways were particularly crowded as many commuters opted for trains due to concerns over road safety.
On Monday, bullet trains resumed travel at high speeds. The Beijing Railway Bureau had instructed all bullet trains to run at reduced speeds on Sunday, leaving many passengers stranded across the region.
