Northern China on blizzard alert

BEIJING, Nov. 16 (UPI) -- Chinese officials issued a yellow blizzard alert for three northeastern provinces Saturday.

Residents and farmers in Jilin, Heilongjiang and Liaoning provinces were urged to batten down and protect their crops and livestock from the first major storm of the winter.

Yellow is the third-highest of China's four-tier weather warning system, the Xinhua news agency said.

The National Meteorological Center said the provinces could see up to 30 millimeters (1.1 inches) of snow and cold temperatures along the Huai and Yellow Rivers.