Thick fog has descended on central China's Hunan, Hubei, and southwest Sichuan provinces. The cold front is also bringing freezing conditions to Anhui and Guizhou in southern China.

The cold front is also expected to bring the first snowfall of this winter to Beijing and neighboring regions on Tuesday night.

The fog on Tuesday forced highways to close and affected shipping lines. Meanwhile, the temperatures in some parts in Anhui and Guizhou dropped below zero degrees. Staff of the National Grid began their maintenance of power facilities to prevent a repeat of last year's problems caused by blizzards.

The cold front is also expected to bring the first snowfall of this winter to Beijing and neighboring regions on Tuesday night.

(CCTV December 10, 2008)