A pier in Yantai, a coastal city in Shandong province, is coated with ice on Tuesday. The city's meteorological station has issued a warning on road icing. [Shen Jihong/China Daily]

China's vast southern regions are expected to experience blizzards, sleet and rainfall until Saturday, the national weather authority said on Tuesday. But it said the weather will not likely disrupt transportation.

Shanghai municipality and six provinces, including Zhejiang and Hunan, will see heavy snows, with accumulations as deep as 20 centimeters.

In some parts of Zhejiang, residents will experience blizzard conditions, the National Meteorological Center said. But this round will not be as severe as the devastating blizzards of 2008, as it will only last for three days, said Zhang Tao, chief forecaster at the center.

In January 2008, 14 provinces in central and southern China were hit by weeks of sustained blizzard conditions, which created chaos in transportation systems and electrical transmission.

A strong cold will sweep out of the northeast toward southern coastal provinces, with temperatures dropping by as much as 14 degrees, approaching the coldest recorded in January in the past 30 years, the center said.

The northern part of the Inner Mongolia autonomous region, which was hit first by the front, saw temperatures dropping to-40 C.

The front will continue to move south until Monday, affecting Guangdong province and bringing temperatures of-10 C to regions along the Yangtze River's middle and lower reaches.

China's northern region will see temperatures rise next Monday, followed by warming in southern regions from Jan 29, Zhang said.

Staff workers in a scenic zone of Yantai have broken the ice to provide more food to seals. [Shen Jihong/China Daily]