BEIJING - Temperatures in most northern Chinese provinces will plunge over the next three days as a cold front approaches, while fog and haze will linger in the northeast, the national observatory said on Tuesday.

The cold front will sweep across Inner Mongolia autonomous region, north and northeast China, and areas along the Yellow and Huaihe rivers, dragging temperatures down by up to 10 degrees Celsius, the National Meteorological Center (NMC) said.

NMC said central and eastern regions in Inner Mongolia will also experience strong winds as well as snow and blizzards.

It also forecast that fog will blanket parts of Heilongjiang, Jilin, Liaoning, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Hunan and Sichuan provinces, as well as Inner Mongolia on Tuesday. Some areas in central and western parts of northeast China will see haze with visibility of less than 200 meters.