Sections of six Beijing highways are currently closed after thick fog smothered the capital beginning Sunday night.

The Beijing Municipal Observatory has issued a yellow warning against the fog and reports the visibility to be as low as 500 meters.

Cold air late on Monday night will bring fairly strong winds to Beijing and disperse the fog, the observatory said.

Visibility in parts of east China's Shandong and Jiangsu provinces, north China's Beijing and Tianjin municipalities and northeastern China's Liaoning Province was a mere 200 meters.

More than 40 flights from Taoxian airport in Shenyang, capital of Liaoning, were delayed on Sunday.

(Xinhua News Agency November 20, 2006)