National Meteorological Center issued an orange alert against cold front Sunday morning, forecasting strong winds and temperature plummet in north, central and east China.

Shanghai Municipal Meteorological Observatory issued a warning against strong cold front and gale Sunday morning, forecasting a temperature drop of 14 degrees Celsius.

Strong winds and snowy weather also affected some other parts of north and east China.

In eastern Shandong Province, passenger shipping service between Yantai and Dalian cities were suspended on Sunday due to cold front and strong winds.

Northern Tianjin Municipality embraced its first snow this year. As of 12:00 a.m., the maximum snowfall was 9.3 millimeters.

Snowstorms slashed northeastern Jilin Province, collapsing trees and disrupting flights. In Yanji City, more than 5,455 hectares of crops have been damaged by the blizzard.

Shaanxi Province in the northwest, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region in the north, Jiangsu Province in the east also reported drastic drop of temperature.

Beijing's first snow started in the wee hours Sunday and got heavier in the morning, blanketing most of the city proper, and leaving tree branches broken and damaging electric wires.

The heavy snow broke down Beijing's electricity distribution grid 60 times Sunday, causing blackouts in the districts of Changping, Shunyi County, Chaoyang and Haidian.

Beijing's main power grid was not affected. And power supply in the above-mentioned affected districts had resumed as of 6:30 p.m. Sunday.

The snow stopped and sky cleared up in the afternoon.

Beijing Weather Modification Office said they had used artificial means to increase the snow to ease the lingering drought.

"We won't miss any opportunity of artificial precipitation since Beijing is suffering from the lingering drought," said Zhang Qiang, who is in charge of the office.

"We have used a total of 186 doses of silver iodide since 8:00 p.m. on Saturday," she said, bringing an additional snowfall of more than 16 million tonnes equivalent, according to the preliminary calculation.

The snow brought unexpected fun and joy to tourists in Beijing.

In Xiangshan Mountain on the outskirts of Beijing, a tourist attraction famous for red maple leaves in autumn, visitors were in high spirits.

"I am so lucky to see the picturesque landscape," said a tourist from southeastern Fujian Province where snow is rare. "The fiery-red maple leaves were much more beautiful against the backdrop of the falling snow."

The snow, which local media called a "gift", however, also brought inconveniences to local people and troubles to the city's traffic.

Five bus routes to the mountainous areas at Beijing's suburbs had been suspended for safety concerns, the city's bus company said.

"Snowfall and wet roads will definitely cause traffic jam," said a local taxi driver surnamed Xia. "But luckily it's Sunday today when most people do not have to go to work. Or it could have been worse."

As of 4:00 p.m., Beijing has reported no major traffic jams and all the city's highway have been open to traffic.

The snow delayed 200 flights at the Beijing Capital International Airport as of midday Sunday, according to the airport company. Snow fall at the airport area was 17.2 mm.

The airport has activated an emergency plan to handle the stranded passengers.

In the afternoon, planes could be seen waiting on the airstrips, waiting to be deiced before taking off.

"I have been waiting for 3 hours in the airport's departure lounge and another 4 hours aboard the plane," said a man surnamed Cao, sitting in his seat on a plane heading for Wuhan City.

"I did not expect that the snow would have brought me such a big trouble," he added.

With the snow came a temperature plummet and strong winds.

The lowest air temperature in Beijing is expected to touch minus three degrees Celsius.

Beijing Municipal Meteorological Observatory issued a warning against strong cold front Saturday night.

"With the advent of the strong cold front, Beijing sees its first snow two months earlier than last year," said Guo Hu, head of the observatory.

Guo Weiqi, an official with the city's municipal government said the city would provide heating service for local residents from Sunday, six days ahead of schedule.