Fierce gales sweep northern China, disrupting flights, trains, public services

A sweeping cold front has brought fierce winds across northern China since Friday evening, prompting widespread weather warnings, transport suspensions, and emergency response measures.

The National Meteorological Center (NMC) on Saturday renewed an orange alert for strong gales that are expected to sweep the country's northern and coastal regions over the weekend, warning that winds of up to force 13 (37.0-41.4 meters per second) on the national wind scale will hit parts of Inner Mongolia, Shanxi, Hebei and Beijing from 8am Saturday to 8am Sunday.

China has a four-tier weather-warning system, with red representing the most severe warning, followed by orange, yellow, and blue.

From 5pm Friday to noon on Saturday, 109 weather stations in Beijing recorded gusts above force 10 (24.5-28.4 meters per second), and 296 stations registered winds at or above force 9 (20.8-24.4 meters per second).

Gusts exceeding force 10 were recorded in 13 districts of the national capital, including Haidian, Chaoyang and Fengtai, according to municipal meteorological authorities.

Beijing remains on orange alert for high winds.

Forecasts for noon to 10pm Saturday predict winds ranging between force 9 and force 11 (28.5-32.6 meters per second) citywide, with mountainous areas potentially experiencing gusts above force 13.

To ensure public safety, Beijing has temporarily shut 15 overground railway sections, affecting a total of 106 stations and over 200 kilometers of tracks, including Beijing Subway Capital Airport Express tracks. Numerous parks and museums have been closed, including the Summer Palace, the Temple of Heaven and Beihai Park, and fueling operations at gas stations and oil depots have been suspended.

As of 10am Saturday, a total of 288 trees were toppled across the city due to the strong winds, damaging 19 vehicles, according to Beijing's emergency management authorities. There have been no reports of damage to ancient trees.

In Beijing, two airports have canceled hundreds of flights scheduled for Saturday, and a humanoid-robot half marathon that was set to take place on Sunday has been postponed to April 19.

No injuries or fatalities related to the extreme winds have been reported in Beijing.

In the neighboring Tianjin Municipality, peak gusts of 43.2 meters per second were recorded in Jizhou District's Panshan area – the strongest winds since records began in 1951.

In the city's urban center, record-high winds reached 25.3 meters per second, and authorities have warned that the extreme conditions are expected to persist through Monday.

Farther northeast, in Liaoning Province's Dalian, local authorities have issued yellow alerts for strong winds that will affect both land and sea areas.

In northern Shanxi Province, the State Grid branch has deployed over 3,000 personnel to inspect and reinforce electrical facilities. Emergency repair teams and mobile generators were positioned across the province in advance to ensure rapid power restoration in the event of outages.

In the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, strong winds have disrupted rail, road and air traffic. Beijing-bound high-speed rail services departing from the region's central and western areas have been temporarily suspended, and airports in cities like Hohhot, Xilinhot and Hulunbuir have canceled dozens of flights due to adverse weather conditions.

Meanwhile, in central China's Henan Province, extreme winds have triggered a Level-III emergency response and prompted the issuance of over 100 meteorological warnings. Multiple tourist attractions, including the Zhengzhou Fantawild Resort, have been temporarily closed as a precautionary measure.