Policemen and road workers offer help to people whose vehicles are stranded along the Qinling section of the 210 National Highway due to heavy snow yesterday. Some 1,000 vehicles in the same area came to a halt after their fuel tanks froze following the sudden drop in temperature.

Affected by the cold air current moving southward from western Siberia, a rare strong sandstorm hit Shaanxi, Gansu, Shanxi provinces and Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.

(Shenzhen Daily, Xinhua April 13, 2006)