Beijing, which has suffered its longest winter drought in 60 years, was also preparing for cloud seeding, Xinhua News Agency reported. Since midnight, moderate snow started to blanket the city, the first time this winter.

The three-month drought in the central and northern parts of the country is likely to continue until Feb 18, the National Meteorological Center said on its official website on Wednesday.

It forecast that by Thursday, light rain or snow with an estimated precipitation of 1 to 3 mm will fall in Shanxi, Henan, Anhui, Shandong and Jiangsu provinces.

But such a small volume cannot alleviate the severe drought, Sun Jun, the center's chief forecaster, said.

During the four months since October, the nation had conducted weather manipulation operations 359 times.