BEIJING- It has been snowing in this Chinese national capital of Beijing since late Wednesday.

It is the first snow this winter, which arrives as the latest snowfall in 60 years.

Jiao Reguang, a weather forecaster with the Beijing Municipal Meteorological Observatory, said it first started to snow at 10 p.m. in Changping on the northern suburbs, and later in Yanqing and more downtown areas of the city.

"The snow will be heavier from 4 a.m., but will stop at about 10 a.m.Thursday. The snowfall is about one to two millimeters," said Jiao.

Beijinghad no rainfall for 108 days, as of Wednesday, making this winter the longest snow-free season on record in the past 60 years, the National Meteorological Center (NMC) said in a statement on its website.

昨晚10时，昌平最先飘起了雪花。随后，延庆、朝阳等各区县陆续迎来了京城今冬第一场雪。

市气象台昨天下午发布的初雪预报关键词是——“后半夜到上午”、“全市性小雪”、“可能性极大”、“1-2毫米”。昨天下午4时许，刚刚结束下雪专题会商的市气象台首席预报员孙继松向记者传递了这个好消息：“预计今天后半夜到明天上午，北京将出现全市性小雪天气，降水量1-2毫米，地面基本全白。”

北京市人工影响天气办公室负责人张蔷昨天下午表示，目前已做好准备工作，只要天气条件合适，一旦后半夜下雪，将随时开展人工增雪作业。

这场初雪比市气象台预计得还来得早了些。昨晚11点半，记者在北五环北苑桥附近看到，地上已经无声无息地被一层白雪浅浅覆盖，街道上停着的车辆也都覆上了雪花。

记者昨晚11点半从市气象局会商室获悉，截至昨晚11时，昌平、怀柔、密云、平谷等地都已经飘落雪花。昨晚10点昌平最先下雪，其后10点10分延庆飘雪，10点半平谷、怀柔，随后10点40分密云，10点50分通州，11点朝阳——北京各个区县陆续开始飘雪。会商室的焦预报员告诉北京晨报记者，从监测情况看，有的地方下的雪还不小，像昨夜11时许，监测到平谷西部的雪已经有2厘米厚。

而城区的部分地区也从零点前开始飘雪了。“从我们会商室看出去，车道沟这里已经飘起小雪花了。”焦预报员说。他表示，平时会商室预报员夜间可以休息，但昨夜是初雪的特殊情况，将坚守岗位对雪情保持密切监测。