The first snow of the season continued to fall on Beijing throughout Thursday morning. It came after the Chinese capital marked 108 days of drought, the longest in 60 years. Other drought hit areas including Henan and Shanxi Provinces also welcomed their long-awaited first snow. The light precipitation is expected to ease the drought in north China, but more is needed.

 

Beijing's long-awaited snow started at 10 pm Wednesday in Changping in the northern suburbs. It later fell on Yanqing and more downtown areas of the city and continued throughout the night.

It marked the end of 108 days of no precipitation, making this winter the longest snow-free season on record in the past 60 years.

Beijing residents welcomed the first flakes of snow.

A Beijing resident said, "I felt very excited when I opened the window in the morning and saw the whiteness outside. The air also becomes clean. I feel very happy with the coming of the first snow. I just want to open the window and breath the clean air."

However, the snowfall only reached about two millimeters at its highest. The small precipitation will have limited effect on easing the drought, and the sun is expected to return soon.