A citizen reads by the Ganjiang river in Nanchang, east China's Jiangxi province on Jan. 23, 2011. Nanchang was enveloped in fog on Sunday and the visibility in part of the city reduced to 50 meters.[Xinhua]

China's meteorological authority said Saturday that a cold snap would sweep North China over the next few days, bringing down temperatures and carrying gusty winds.

Temperatures in some parts of Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, Inner Mongolia autonomous region and Northeast China will drop 4 to 6 degrees Celsius over the weekend, the National Meteorological Center (NMC) said in a statement on its website.

In most areas north to the Huaihe River, the temperatures will go down 4 to 6 degrees Celsius, or even 8 to 10 degrees Celsius in some parts of the areas between Monday and Tuesday.

The cold front would then move southward to affect more areas in the eastern and southern parts of the country.

The NMC said some areas in northern and western Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, the eastern part of Inner Mongolia, Sichuan Basin and most of the Northeast China, the western parts of the areas south to the Yangtze River will see light to moderate snow or sleet in the forthcoming three days.

Fog continued to shroud south China Saturday, reducing visibility to less than 200 meters in parts of Hunan, Hubei, Jiangxi, Sichuan and Fujian provinces, as well as Chongqing city.