China's meteorological authority said Saturday that heavy fog will continue to blanket parts of the country in the morning, while a cold front is expected to snap most regions starting Sunday and lowering temperatures in affected areas.

The National Meteorological Center issued on its website a third blue alert early Saturday morning, the lowest level in the country's four-scale fog alert system.

Fog and haze will decrease visibility to within 1,000 meters in parts of the provinces of Gansu, Shanxi, Shandong, Zhejiang, Jiangxi, Fujian, Hunan and Sichuan, and as low as 200 meters in some areas, the center said, urging people in these regions to drive slowly for safety reasons.

A cold front will sweep from west to east to affect most parts of China Sunday, dragging down temperatures by six to eight degrees Celsius in the central and eastern regions, the center forecast. The central and eastern parts of Inner Mongolia, southern parts of northeast China, northern parts of north China will see temperatures fall by 10 to 14 degrees Celsius.

The weather agency suggested residents in these areas put on more clothes to guard against cold.