The Central Meteorological Station in Beijing said the fog in northern China will gradually clear up from today, thanks to a cold air mass moving eastward from Siberia. Weathermen said the cold front had arrived in northwestern Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region yesterday afternoon and will sweep northern China today or tomorrow. Hopefully, the strong wind will scatter the fog that has persisted in the region for nearly 10 days.

Yesterday's heavy fog plagued more than 10 cities and provinces. The affected areas included Beijing and neighboring areas, north-eastern Liaoning, eastern Shandong, central Henan, Hubei and Hunan, south-western Chongqing and northwestern Shaanxi as well as the southwestern Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, national media reported.

Beijing took the brunt of the foggy attack. Yesterday morning, the visibility at the runways of the Capital Airport was scarcely 50 meters, far below the minimum level of 400 meters for an aircraft to land or take off, airport authorities said. As of yesterday morning, at least 123 flights - including 49 leaving and 74 arriving - had been canceled, forcing 20,000-odd passengers to linger at the airport.

Shortly after 11 a.m., the first flight, in more than 15 hours, took off from the air-port for Shanghai. About half an hour later, another air-plane landed at the airport.

Drivers in the capital city's highways had no better luck. Throughout Monday, the city was shrouded in heavy fog. In most areas, drivers had to turn on the fog lamps to inch forward. During the evening, visibility on the Nansanhuan and National No. 107 high-ways was less than 5 meters.

Traffic in neighboring Tianjin was also disrupted. Main highways around the municipality were still closed as of yesterday afternoon.

Airports in many other cities, including Shijiazhuang in Hebei Province, Chengdu in Sichuan Province, Wuhan in Hubei, and Nanning in Guangxi, were also affected.

(eastday.com December 4, 2002)