Early-season snow blankets Beijing, northern China

BEIJING (AP) — An early-season snowstorm has blanketed much of northern China including the capital Beijing, prompting highway closures and flight and train cancellations and delays. Temperatures plunged to freezing and below as a cold front moved from west to east. A steady, blowing snow fell on Sunday in Beijing, the nearby city of Tianjin and northeastern China after hitting parts of Inner Mongolia and other western areas the previous day. The National Meteorological Center has issued an orange alert for snowstorms, the second highest level in China’s four-tier warning system. Accumulations of more than 30 centimeters (11 inches) were forecast in some areas.