1月3日北京迎来几十年来最大的一次降雪，昌平区长城附近积雪厚达20厘米。此次大雪导致多条高速封路、数千旅客滞留机场，北京和天津两地的中小学1月4日停课一天。据气象部门预报，今明两天北京的气温将降至零下16摄氏度，为50年以来最低气温。首都国际机场90％以上的航班都被取消或长期延误，天津、呼和浩特及大连机场部分关闭，多条进京高速公路都采取封路或限制通行措施，不过，铁路交通运行未受影响。

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A security guard shovels snow to make a path in front of a snowman on Beijing's Tiananmen Square January 3, 2010.

Beijing faces lowest temperature in half a century; schools closed today.

The heaviest snow to hit North China in decades caused widespread chaos²混沌，混乱 on roads and left tens of thousands of passengers stranded³搁浅 at airports yesterday - but worse is forecast for today and tomorrow.

Temperatures are forecast to drop to -16 C in Beijing, the lowest in half a century, when work resumes after a three-day New Year holiday.

The severe weather forced thousands of primary and high schools to suspend classes today.

The authorities in Beijing and Tianjin announced yesterday that classes in the two cities' 3,500 primary and high schools will be suspended, affecting more than 2.2 million students.

Yesterday's snowfall forced the full or partial closure of airports in Beijing, Tianjin, Hohhot and Dalian, leaving tens of thousands of passengers stranded.

More than 90 percent of flights at Beijing Capital International Airport, the country's busiest, were cancelled or severely⁴ delayed, with only one of the three runways open at one point一度.

The snow forced cars to less than 40 km-per-hour on the usually bustling忙乱的，熙熙攘攘的 freeway from the airport into town. Vehicles slowed to a crawl on city roads, navigating⁶ slushy泥泞的，融雪的 snow.

Many of the expressways connecting Beijing with other cities were shut down or had restricted access, with several centimeters of snow blanketing roads.

Long-distance bus travel in North China was hampered⁷阻碍，限制 by the weather, but the nation's rail system was operating normally, reports said.

Sun Hongtao, a teacher at Beijing Wanshousi Primary School, said: "I was quite surprised to hear classes will be suspended because it is very rare. As far as I remember, we only did it during the SARS outbreak in 2003."

The Central Meteorological Station中央气象局 (CMS) yesterday morning extended the warning of a strong cold spell春寒期 and snowstorms by issuing an orange alert, the second-highest level.

Temperatures are set to fall by 8 to 12 C in central and western Inner Mongolia, eastern parts of Northwest China, North China, Guizhou and Chongqing, according to the CMS.

Temperatures in parts of Inner Mongolia and northern parts of Shanxi and Shaanxi provinces might plunge⁸ by 14 to 18 C, it said.

The lowest temperature in the northwestern region of Heilongjiang province will hit 36 C below zero this morning, the national forecaster said.

The national and 23 provincial⁹ and municipal市政的 meteorological departments have been ordered to be on high alert and closely monitor the cold currents and snowstorms, Xinhua reported yesterday.

"With the capital blanketed in heavy snow, the temperature in Beijing is expected to hit the lowest in half a century with the minimum reaching 16 C below zero," Guo Hu, head of the Beijing meteorological bureau气象局, said yesterday.

Upward of 20 cm of snowfall was recorded in the suburbs of Beijing's Changping district near the Great Wall.

The freezing cold will last for three days at least, Guo said.

"I don't remember ever seeing such heavy snowfall in the city. I am wondering about tomorrow's traffic, as snow has blanketed覆盖，遮掩 roads," said a local resident surnamed Zhou in her 30s yesterday.

The city government has mobilized 300,000 people to clear the snow.