China's meteorological authority said Monday that heavy fog will continue to blanket the country's central and eastern parts in the morning, while a cold spell will hold its grip on most regions, bringing rainfall and snow over the next two days.

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

Fog and haze will decrease visibility to less than 1,000 meters in north China and some southern areas, the center said, urging people in these regions to drive slowly for safety reasons.

A cold front plowing through most parts of the country will cause rainfall and snow, dragging down temperatures by four to six degrees Celsius in the central and eastern regions.

In central China's Hunan province, heavy fog has shrouded the capital city of Changsha and traffic was hampered as visibility was lowered.

Rain and snow will fall in the northern parts of north China, Tibet, northwest China, southwest China and regions south of the Yangtze River over the next two days, the center said.

A snowstorm that began late Sunday night in the Tacheng Prefecture in northwest Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region has stranded hundreds of travelers on the road.

Heavy snow brought by gales of up to 88 km per hour has lowered visibility in some parts of the road to zero.

After about three hours of rescue efforts, 235 stranded people and 63 vehicles were guided to safety areas at about 4:30 a.m.