Snowfall over a large swath of northern China will stop on Friday, but much of the southern and eastern parts of the country will be drenched in rain for a week, weather forecasters predicted.

Residents of 11 northern provinces and cities, including Hebei and Shandong provinces, Beijing and the Inner Mongolia autonomous region, awoke to snowy scenes on Thursday, and continued to see the blanket of snow grow larger throughout the day.

The National Meteorological Center said the recent snow in large areas of North China is the heaviest and most widespread of the winter so far, with accumulations of as much as 2.5 centimeters.

It was Beijing's third snowfall this winter, following a light dusting on Feb 6 and dense snowflakes on Tuesday that brought wintry scenes to the capital.

The wide-ranging snow is expected to ease off by Friday morning in most regions, according to Fang Chong, the center's chief forecaster.

However, snow and sleet is set to linger in some northwestern and southwestern regions, including the Tibet and Xinjiang Uygur autonomous regions, through Saturday, with high chances of blizzards in some regions, the center said.

A cold wave sweeping across snowy regions will likely bring strong winds this week and push temperatures down by 6 to 10 C.

The snowy weather disrupted travelers in the ongoing spring travel rush, which ends on March 12.

At least 90 segments of some 60 highways across China were closed in the early hours of Thursday because of ice and snow, the Ministry of Transport's highway monitoring and response center said.

Four airports, including Beijing Capital International, saw widespread delays of flights on Thursday, and at least a dozen more air transport hubs faced a string of flight cancellations, delays and closed runaways, according to flight information aggregator Variflight.com.

Travelers in China's southern, eastern and southwestern regions are being urged to take extra care on the roads, as persistent rain will create treacherous traffic conditions over the next few days.

Light to medium rainfall is forecast to affect Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Guizhou and Jiangxi provinces, Chongqing and other areas for a week.

Regions south of the Yangtze River and in southwestern China will be hit hardest by rain, with intense downpours forecast for early next week.

The authorities have urged commuters and travelers in these regions to beware of frosty roads and low visibility.

Fang, the chief forecaster, said the abundant precipitation in recent days is expected to ease the mild drought that has been affecting farming.