The first wide-ranging snowfall of the winter arrived in Beijing on Sunday night, according to the Beijing Meteorological Bureau on Monday.

More than 10 monitoring stations in Beijing observed the snowfall and agreed it meets the standard of the first snow, it said.

The snowfall is long-awaited, since the last effective precipitation was 90 days before, on October 23 of last year.

First snowfall in Beijing (Photo: people.cn)

Previous weather forecasts have predicted a snowfall throughout Beijing on the night of January 21. Since Sunday night, people in the Yanqing District and the Mentougou Area began sharing photos of snow on social media, while residents in urban districts were eagerly expecting the first snowfall.

On Monday morning, however, many people in urban districts still found no signs of snowfall.

"Weather Beijing", official Weibo of Beijing Meteorological Bureau, said Sunday night that snow first dropped in Beijing's western and northern mountains, then in most open areas at midnight. Yanqing, Huairou, Miyun, Pinggu and Changping Districts, and the Mentougou Area saw an apparent light snowfall.

The snowfall is the first wide-range one this winter and is up to the meteorological standard of the first snow.

The Great Wall after the snowfall (Photo: Visual China Group)

From 7 pm last night to 6 am this morning, the average snowfall across Beijing is 0.1 millimeters, with the northwestern area getting 0.5mm, the southwestern area getting 0.2mm, the northeastern area getting 0.1mm, and a slight snowfall in urban districts and the southeastern area, according to the monitoring stations. No snow cover was found in most areas at 6 am on Monday morning.

(Compiled by Liu Xiaochi)