Lhasa, capital of southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region, was unexpectedly covered by a great snow Wednesday afternoon after experiencing the high temperature of 23.6 Celsius degrees over the past few days.
The sky of Lhasa got gloomy at about four p.m. today and the snow soon blanketed the twigs and grasses which had already turnedgreen.
Zhang Qiang, a tourist from the Sichuan province, told the reporter joyfully that he had never imagined to appreciate the "winter" scenery of the Potala Palace during the April spring.
Sources from the local meteorological observatory said that thewhole region, except Ngari, will have light snow, and it might last for three days.
The snow was the result of the interaction between the warm airflows up from the Indian Ocean and the cold ones down from the north, according to the sources.
Meteorological experts consider that the snowfall will be good for the preservation of soil moisture as well as the grassland regreening.
However, it is also likely to cause mud-rock flows in the eastern area of the region. The temperature decrease will also adddifficulties to lamb delivering and nurturing in the northern pastoral areas, experts said.
( People's Daily April 11, 2002)
