“Never Seen This in 30 Years!” China in Chaos: Snow Buries Cars, Crashed Vehicles Clog Highways

More than a foot of snow and a red snowstorm alert. On November 8, a massive snowstorm buried parts of Qinghua Dao in Hebei Province. Residents who've lived there for decades say they've never seen snow this heavy. One resident scraped through a foot of snow off a car and said, I knew there was a snowstorm coming, I've just never seen one this brutal. Well that's it. We're back to the basics now. With snow like this, we're walking everywhere. Just look how deep it is. Wow. It's so heavy that the sheds have collapsed. Look at that crushed shed. The damage is terrible. It's done for. Look closely at how much snow is on that lantern and how those trees are bent over. The snow on the little table by the door looks like a block of tofu. It's about half a meter thick. Here's what it looks like after the snowstorm. Let me show you. It started yesterday afternoon and still hasn't stopped. This is a lot of snow. In some places, it's 8 to 12 inches deep, and deeper in others. Look at the roadside trees, including this one above my head. The heavy snow has broken them. Honestly, we haven't had snow like this in recent years. The road hasn't iced over yet, but the snow is so thick that the lanes are very difficult to drive through. Just a reminder, anyone going to work or school tomorrow needs to be extra careful. Some car doors froze shut, forcing people to chip them open with a screwdriver. Cars skidded on snow-packed roads. Many people couldn't get out of the residential complexes. Underground garage ramps were blocked, and bus service was badly disrupted. Here, fierce winds drive snow straight into the camera. A bus is stuck. Several people try to push it free, but it won't budge. At a bus terminal, commuters were waiting to get to work, but the wheels just spun, and the buses slid sideways, going nowhere. One anxious resident kept saying they had something urgent to take care of. A bus skidding while moving swung across the road and eventually hit a car ahead of it. Tall trees collapsed under the weight of the snow, blocking an entire road. On a highway, several vehicles skidded and collided, coming to a stop along the side. Other footage showed a car sliding through the snow and knocking over the center divider, obstructing the road. Now look at this, a drive through a winter fairy tale. Until an ice-covered tree lying across the road brings it to an abrupt end. One resident, Mr. Yuan, told Chinese media it was the heaviest snow he'd seen in more than 20 years in Qinghua Dao. It started around 11 a.m. on November 7 and was still coming down at 7.30 the next morning, some 20 hours later. Measurements at the scene showed more than 8 inches of snow and over a foot in some areas. Another resident, surname Ma, said when it When it started snowing on the 7th, Nothing was sticking to the ground yet, but it was coming down hard. As temperatures dropped overnight, the snow began piling up. When I went out on the morning of the 8th, it was above my knees at the entrance of our complex. On some roads, it was higher than the car wheels. I don't think I've seen snow this heavy in nearly 30 years. It's still falling and now has completely covered the tires of electric bikes. Local authorities issued a red snowstorm alert early on the 8th. Official data showed nearly a foot of snow in Haiguan district. And just over a foot in Shanghai Guan District, Loaders clearing a main road in Qinghua Dao piled the snow into a mini snow mountain roughly 10 feet high, China's Red Star News reported. Beside that intersection on Jiangsu Avenue, the snow was about a foot deep. On the afternoon of November 8, one vegetable vendor in Qinghua Dao, who works out of a plastic-covered shed, said he didn't sleep all night. Twice before dawn, he went out to clear snow off the roof so it wouldn't cave in. In the Yufengli residential complex, Snow caved in the roofs of roadside stalls, and nearby businesses said it also brought down a storefront sign, now cordoned off. On Beihuan Road, one shop owner said a shed behind the store collapsed under the heavy snow on the 7th. Qinhuangdao wasn't alone. Starting November 7, a powerful winter storm brought blizzard conditions to much of Hubei Province. Roads, buildings, cars and mountains disappeared under thick snow. As it piled up, roads iced over, Making driving treacherous, Hebei was among the hardest-hit provinces, with particularly heavy snowfall in Zhangjiakou, Chengde, Tangshan, and Qinhuangdao. The Provincial Meteorological Observatory issued an orange snowstorm alert, forecasting heavy to exceptionally heavy snow north of Baoding and Langfang. Qinhuangdao was hit hardest. Many residents said it felt as though they were living in the Arctic, with some comparing the scene to the end of the world. This snow in Qinhuangdao is really heavy. It's already above knee level. This goes way beyond whether you can walk through it. I'm braving the snow to show you the cars and nearby roads. Look, it's really almost up to my knees. Let's look at the parking lot. The snow has buried this car's wheels all the way up to here. There's no way to back it out. Luckily, I raised my windshield wipers yesterday. All right, everyone should stay home today. Don't go anywhere. The snow is so deep that none of these cars can move. There's no point arguing about front wheel drive versus rear wheel drive. Nothing's getting through. You need high ground clearance and snow tires. Basically, none of these vehicles can go anywhere. Anywhere. To Malu. Look at this road. It's already this late, and they still haven't cleared it. I have no idea what the government is doing. There's even a bicycle in the middle of the main road. It's so hard for people to get through. They have to trample a path through the snow. Even crossing an intersection is a struggle. You simply can't get across. One snowstorm and everything ends up like this. Now we can't even walk. In Chengde, snow blanketed the Great Wall. Fresh snow covered the ancient walls, watchtowers, and hillsides of its historic Jiangshanling section. It was the area's first widespread snowfall in the winter. Zhangjiakou got heavy snow too, so much that one vlogger said they couldn't believe it was really Zhangjiakou. Snow kept piling up on the trees, roofs, cars, and roads, especially in the south and nearby mountain villages, making life increasingly difficult for residents and travelers. A person in Qinhuangdao joked about their own situation. When you're poor, even your car suffers with you. In summer, you worry about hail. In winter, it's snowstorms. I can't say I'm completely broke because I do have a car, but I can't say I'm well off because I don't have a garage. Once winter comes, the rich all head to Sanya. They're down there in skimpy clothes with their waist showing while I'm shivering in the northeast, drinking ginger soup to keep warm. Being poor isn't the scary part. The scary part is that I'm the one who's poor. This powerful snowstorm was unusual in recent years, bringing intense prolonged snowfall across the north. Many cities experience widespread heavy to very heavy snow, with exceptionally heavy snowfall in some areas. Monitoring stations across Qinhuangdao recorded anywhere from about 5 inches of snow in Changli County to a foot in Shanghai Guan District, which also saw the most precipitation. Strong winds hit 39 weather stations across the city, with gusts reaching 63 mph in Wutongyu, Lulong County. The wind drove the snow into even deeper drifts in low-lying and sheltered spots. The storm also snarled travel. High-speed trains on the Tianjin-Qinhuangdao line had to slow down. All morning flights from Qinhuangdao Beidaihe Airport to Shanghai Pudong on the 8th were canceled, highway entrances and exits across Hebei were restricted or closed, and local bus routes were adjusted or suspended. This band of rain and snow moved from west to east across northern China. It was part of the same weather system that brought early winter precipitation to Beijing. But snowfall intensity and accumulation were clearly greater in Qinhuangdao. Deliveries became a tough but vital job. One food delivery rider said, Folks, in this weather, I'd be better off walking to make deliveries. Some of these orders paid just 3 yuan. Watching a delivery rider outside in the wind and snow, one resident said, Nobody would choose to earn money in a snowstorm like this unless they had to make ends meet. He's someone's son, someone's husband, someone's father. Hello friends, it's been 30 years since I've been to Qiangang Island. Friends, this is the biggest snowfall I've seen in the 30 years since I came to Qinhuangdao. It's so heavy, just incredible, and it's still coming down. Look at that. This really is a blizzard. 昨天可能还在海滨公园看枫叶，在北戴河看银杏 Yesterday you might have been looking at maple leaves in a seaside park or ginkgo trees in Beidaihe. Today the snowstorm is here. Look how hard it's coming down. Don't go out unless you have to and don't drive. Staying home is the best choice. If you absolutely must go out, take short shuffling steps like a penguin and keep your hands out of your pockets. That will make you less likely to fall. Safety first. Everyone remember safety first. There's a red snowstorm alert. For those of us living in apartment buildings, the impact may be smaller. But I'm wondering how people in rural areas are doing, especially those growing greenhouse vegetables or raising livestock. I used to grow crops in greenhouses. When heavy snow fell, we had to use poles to clear it quickly so the roofs wouldn't collapse. I'm especially concerned about people growing Shanhaiguan cherries this year, how much they've lost, and whether they're out in the fields trying to save their crops right now. Farming is so hard. I've watched lots of livestreams and videos, but I haven't seen reports about our rural areas. I remember my mother telling me about a huge snowfall in the 1970s. Birds froze to death in the trees, and she went out with a basket and collected a whole basketful. This is the entrance to our unit. This is the entrance to our building. The snow is so deep. Look how thick it is. Everyone, look. This car is buried. That's how much snow there is. We haven't had snow this heavy here in all these years. We barely had any last year. And this year's first snowfall is already this deep. Look where the wind blows through. It's almost waist high. My goodness. This is a wind corridor. So all the snow gets blown here and piles up even deeper. It's halfway up the wall here. My electric bike is buried, and I can't get it out. I've never really seen snow like this." And it wasn't just Hebei. As this storm system peaked on November 7 and 8, parts of eight provinces and municipalities, including Beijing and Tianjin, got exceptionally heavy snow, local observatories reported. Farther south, heavy rain and sharp temperature drops were on the way. Officials said heavy rain began on the 7th and 8th in parts of eastern and central China from Jiangsu and Zhejiang to Hubei and was also expected across much of the south and southwest from Sichuan and Yunnan to Guangxi and Guangdong. In the hardest-hit areas, southern Anhui, southeastern Hubei, northern Hunan, and northern Jiangxi, up to 3.5 inches of rain was forecast in places With downpours of more than an inch and a half an hour in some spots, plus possible thunderstorms and strong winds. Meanwhile, temperatures across much of central and eastern China were forecast to drop by 11 to 18°F and by more than 25°F in some spots. By the morning of the 10th, the freezing line was expected to push south to southern Shaanxi, southern north China, and the southeastern Huanghuai region. Strong winds were also expected in many areas. A nationwide map of where people were most likely to catch a cold published by China Weather identified parts of Inner Mongolia, Qinghai, Heilongjiang, Liaoning, Beijing, Tianjin, Shaanxi and southern Shaanxi as having an extremely high risk of catching a cold on the 7th. It said temperatures in those areas had generally fallen below freezing with a pronounced wind chill. But before the snow came, something else lit up the sky. The day before the storm hit, a fireball streaked down over Beijing and nearby Hebei, Henan, Shaanxi, and Inner Mongolia. A Beijing astronomy expert called it a sporadic meteor that might have left meteorites behind. Many people online though saw something darker, a sign of great misfortune. China's Sina reported the fireball flared across the night sky over northern China around 6.30 p.m. on November 6. Based on its brightness, the shockwave felt on the ground and the sound, it may have been up to 5 feet across, close to asteroid size, and pieces likely reached the ground as meteorites. In Beijing, a man surnamed Wu was in a car when a huge fireball appeared in the southwestern sky and plunged towards the ground. He said, it was really bright, with different colors, just like a ball of fire. My friends in the car and I didn't react it. By the time we raised our phones, it was gone. It lasted only about 2 or 3 seconds. I checked my phone, and it was around 6.30pm. A person in Zhangjiakou Hebei said she saw the fireball to the southwest. She said, seeing it with my own eyes was stunning. It lasted for about 4 or 5 seconds. It suddenly appeared in the sky, glowing green, yellow, and red. At first, I thought someone was setting off fireworks. Then it passed through the clouds and lit them up too. After watching dashcam footage shared online on November 6, former Beijing Planetarium director Zhu Jin told the media that it appeared to show a fireball. Zhu also told the Beijing Youth Daily that this was probably quite large. As it neared the ground, the fireball produced a violent airburst. A video posted that evening by a vlogger in Hebei showed a fire in a remote area, with flames and thick smoke rising from the ground. Other footage showed a police car after dark, with a scene cordoned off. The vlogger also shared a screenshot of a conversation in which someone said they'd noticed an unusual smell while driving on a highway near the scene. The vlogger said they were too timid to disclose the exact location, Joking that they'd return the next day, they might find a meteorite they could sell for a large sum. And this wasn't the first fireball over China this fall. In the six weeks before, others were spotted over Yunnan, Shenzhen, Xi'an, and Chengdu. On November 1, an object with a long blue tail appeared over parts of Yunnan, And an online user said a dashcam in Wencheng caught it at 7.14 p.m. In Shenzhen, many residents saw a green ball of fire fall from the sky, Hong Kong media reported on October 14. A resident surnamed Zhao said, it was stunning, the sky was very dark, and a streak of light went past. Near the end, it turned into a meteorite. The Shenzhen Observatory confirmed it was a fireball and described the sighting as relatively rare. The Beijing News reported that a fireball suddenly lit up the sky over Xi'an, Shaanxi, and other areas on the evening of October 5. A glowing dot streaked across the sky, leaving a long band of light before repeatedly flaring and descending. The Shaanxi Astronomical Society's preliminary assessment was that it was a sporadic fireball. Such meteors burn as they interact with the atmosphere and may flare explosively as they approach the ground. On September 25, the night of the Mid-Autumn Festival, a Chengdu resident surnamed Chen told reporters that his dashcam had unexpectedly captured a brilliant streak of light crossing the sky while he was driving. A well-known local astronomy enthusiast judged from the object's speed and flaring that it was very likely a fireball. Fireballs can appear in different colors depending on the minerals they contain. Ancient Chinese texts describe a belief that changes in the heavens corresponded to events on Earth. Throughout successive dynasties, imperial astronomers watched the sky for signs of national rise and decline, changes in imperial power, and the life or death of the emperor. Meteors and falling meteorites were traditionally seen as bad omens. Take 1976. In March, the world's largest meteorite fell in Jilin. That same year, three top CCP leaders, Zhou Enlai, Zhu De, and Mao Zedong all died, and the Tangshan earthquake killed hundreds of thousands of people. Observers cited China's official historical chronicle, Records of the Grand Historian, which says that in 211 BC, the 36th year of the reign of Qin Shi Huang, a star fell to earth and became a large meteorite. Written on it were the words, the first emperor will die and his land will be divided. In this interpretation, meteorites often foretold events. Historical accounts associate falling meteorites or showers of meteors with major developments soon afterward, including a change of dynasty, an emperor's death, bloody warfare or rebellion, unusual fireballs across the sky, snow unseen in decades. To these observers, the signs point one way. China could soon be in for enormous change.