The long overdue snow began to fall at around 2:40 a.m. and lasted into the afternoon.

 

Traffic slowed and caused a number of road accidents, though no deaths were reported.

 

In the most serious accident reported so far, seven passengers were slightly injured when two buses collided in the morning rush hour in Haidian District, in the northwest of Beijing.

 

Traffic police said the accident was caused by brake failure on the slippery road. The seven passengers are being treated at Haidian Hospital.

 

Yanqing district in Beijing's northeastern suburbs saw the heaviest snowfall, with 3.7 millimeters piling up by 8:00 a.m., the municipal meteorological bureau said.

 

Four other suburban districts, Changping, Mentougou, Shunyi and Fangshan, received more than 2.5 millimeters of snow each, the bureau said, adding that the snow had reached a "moderate" level in most parts of the city.

 

There were three millimeters of snow at Beijing Capital International Airport, and 35 outgoing and 69 incoming flights were delayed.

 

Traffic flow slowed to less than 20 kilometers per hour on at least 90 urban roads but no highways were closed, according to Beijing's road traffic management bureau. The bureau sent more than 3,000 traffic policemen to downtown roads early in the morning.

 

Traffic congestion on slippery roads caused problems for the working population, most of whom have to work through the weekend before taking the first three days of the new year off.

 

Lou Chen, a Beijing-based news editor, said she slipped five times in her high-heel shoes while hurrying to work.

 

Snow also hit other Chinese localities including Tianjin, Hebei, Shandong and Shanxi, closing several interprovincial highways and disrupting dozens of flights.

 

Despite the inconvenience, most people are happy because the snow is expected to clean the air, increase humidity and bring down the temperature that has been too high for this time of the year.

 

In the lanes and alleyways of the city, gay children's voices could be heard playing and laughing this morning, while their parents scraped away the snow from gateways and paths.

 

Beijing's maximum temperature for Saturday was expected to be no more than minus one degree Celsius, down by six degrees from last week. The air quality is level two or fairly good.

 

The warm winter has confused citizens across north China in the last few weeks with temperatures in most cities remaining above zero degree Celsius even though December is supposed to be the coldest time of the year.

 

Meteorologists say the temperature in Beijing in the past few weeks has been four or five degrees Celsius higher than normal.

 

Many Beijingers, particularly children and old people, have come down with the flu. At a primary school in Haidian District, nearly every classroom is half empty following an outbreak of flu and chickenpox.

 

To ensure pedestrian safety, city managers sent 330 cleaners and 132 vehicles to sweep snow and spray snow-dissolving products along major urban roads at dawn.

 

Beijing's administration commission said some 258 tons of snow-dissolving products and 294 tons of solution were sprayed in the city center.

 

The city authorities have asked roadside stores, companies and other institutions to sweep the snow from their doors within four hours.

 

Overnight snow must be cleared before 10:00 a.m., according to the bureau's regulations issued in November.

 

Organizations that fail to do so will be fined between 500 and 1,000 yuan (US$62.5 to 125).

 

(Xinhua News Agency December 31, 2006)