Classes for some Jiangsu students will be delayed until Thursday

Heavy snowfall might be a nightmare for travelers, but for children, it could be a different story.

Many students in East China's Jiangsu province had the start of their new semester postponed for up to two days because of the snow.

Education authorities in the provincial capital of Nanjing announced on Tuesday that the starting day was postponed to Thursday from the scheduled Tuesday.

Some other cities in the province, such as Wuxi, Zhenjiang and Yangzhou, delayed the registrations of primary and middle school students until Wednesday.

The prolonged holiday was due to a sudden snowfall that blanketed the province starting late Monday night as a cold front moved in from the north.

According to the provincial meteorological center, it was Nanjing's biggest snowfall since 2008.

By 3 am on Tuesday, more than 30,000 people were organized to sweep the city's main roads by the local government.

In the coming two days, no more snow is expected, but frost might continue causing trouble for commuters, and temperatures will drop by 8 C in most parts of Jiangsu, according to the provincial meteorological center.

While giving students extra days off, the snow disrupted many travelers' plans.

Nanjing Lukou International Airport was closed on Monday night, and it issued its highest-level emergency warning at 4:15 am on Tuesday because of the snow.

The airport reopened at 9:20 am thanks to improved weather conditions and staff efforts to clean the taxiway.

As of 2 pm, 49 flights at the airport were delayed on Tuesday, and 36 flights heading to the city were postponed, according to the airport.

Meanwhile, 47 bullet trains running across Jiangsu were postponed by 4:22 pm on Tuesday, according to the Shanghai Railway Administration, which manages railways in neighboring Jiangsu province.

A large number of high-speed trains in the region were also delayed because of their reduced speed.

"I was two hours late. The train should depart at 9 am, but it didn't start to move until 9:45 am," said Liu Ying, 29, who was taking the high-speed railway from Nanjing to Shanghai on Tuesday.

"It went very slow during the whole journey due to the icy weather," she said.

Zhao Yaoyao, who lives in Nanjing's Gulou district, said she waited for more than an hour for a taxi to get to work on Tuesday morning.

"I had no choice but to walk for 40 minutes to my workplace because of the traffic jam," said Zhao. "Some colleagues driving to work also complained to me that they felt like they were skating on the ice when they drove on the road this morning."

The bad weather also disrupted transportation in Shanghai, where the temperature dropped to zero C early Tuesday morning.

On Tuesday, more than 50 flights were postponed or canceled in Shanghai's two airports.

The city also reminded its residents to watch the slippery road conditions.

Tuesday was also the beginning of new semester in Shanghai's schools. Many parents and students received messages from schools that warned them to take extra care because there was ice on many roads.

Contact the writers at cangwei@chinadaily.com.cn and wanghongyi@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily 02/20/2013 page4)