In this Jan 4, 2018 photo, a park ranger removes snow on a tree at the Lyvzhou Park in Hefei, capital of east China's Anhui province. (PHOTO / XINHUA)

BEIJING — China's national observatory Sunday issued alerts for blizzards and a cold wave that will affect many parts of the country Sunday and Monday.

The National Meteorological Center issued a code blue blizzard alert, as a heavy snowstorm is expected to hit regions in Zhejiang, Jiangxi, Anhui and Hunan provinces

The National Meteorological Center issued a code blue blizzard alert, the least serious in the country's four-tier color-coded weather warning system, as a heavy snowstorm is expected to hit regions in Zhejiang, Jiangxi, Anhui and Hunan provinces.

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Parts of Guizhou, Hunan, Jiangxi and Guangdong provinces, as well as Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, can expect to see freezing rain during the period.

The observatory also issued a code yellow alert for the cold wave that will affect most parts of the country.

It said temperatures in southern provinces could be up to 7 degrees Celsius lower than the average normal levels, with those in Guizhou and Hunan provinces seeing up to 10 degrees Celsius below the average normal levels.

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Temperatures will begin to climb gradually from Jan 1 in most southern regions and reach normal levels on Jan 4, the observatory forecast.