China's National Meteorological Center on Sunday continued to issue an orange alert for snowstorms in some northern regions.

From Sunday morning to Monday morning, snowstorms are likely to hit parts of Inner Mongolia, Hebei, Tianjin, Shandong, Liaoning, Jilin and Heilongjiang.

In some of these regions, blizzards are expected to drop over 40 centimeters of snow, it said.

The center advised residents to stay indoors and urged local authorities to take precautions with roads, railways, electricity and telecommunications.

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

As a cold wave hits and temperatures drop, Chinese capital Beijing has seen the first snow of this winter.

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(With input from Xinhua)