Early winter snowstorms of “rare intensity” blanketed Yunnan province on Monday.
It is the biggest snowfall in 18 years, according to local residents.
It is rare to have snow in the city in Southwest China, known as the City of Spring for its pleasant climate.
Kunming’s Changshui airport had to cancel 152 flights by the end of the day on December 15 due to rain and heavy snowfall.
The airport was in chaos as some passengers sat on the tarmac for hours only to finally have their flights cancelled in the early evening.
According to reports there was not enough staff to deal with the high number of angry passengers.
In addition, road travel was badly disrupted.
Heavy snowfall stranded more than 2,770 vehicles on highways throughout the province and blocked hundreds of kilometers of roads, provincial transport bureau spokesman Zhang Changsheng said.
Snowfall reached 5 cm deep at some sections of the pavement and at Dali University the greatest depths exceeded exceeded 15 cm (6 inches)
It is the biggest snowfall in 18 years, according to local residents.
http://www.echinacities.com/news/Over-8000-People-Stranded-at-Kunming-Airport-Due-to-Heavy-Snowfall-and-Rain?cmteditid=#page_cmt
http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/90882/8486743.html
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/photo/2013-12/16/content_17177727.htm
Thanks to Argiris Diamantis for these links