Chinese provinces most affected in last year's snow disaster are on high alert again as an ice storm snarled traffic, posing threats to the coming Spring Festival travel peak which starts in four days.

The central Hunan Province issued its first sleet warning of the winter on Tuesday as a storm hit 34 cities and counties, dumping several centimeters of snow. Cars were barely moving in downtown Changsha, the capital city.

Hunan Provincial Meteorological Observatory urged transportation, power and communications sectors to be on alert through the storm. It also asked citizens to stay indoors as long as possible to prevent accidents.

The sleet, which started Monday, has already disrupted many people's travel plans.

"I planned to visit my parents in Changde City before the Spring Festival, but the continuous snow has spoiled my appetite to travel," said Chen Xiaoshu, a Changsha office worker. "I would rather stay home and wait for sunny days to come than to trudge in the chilly cold."

Chen said she hoped the snow and sleet would not stay around as long as last year.

In January 2008, freak winter weather -- prolonged snow, rain and sleet -- in the country's eastern, central and southern regions, brought down power lines, coated roads with thick ice, and forced trains, buses and planes to stop running. Millions of people traveling for the Spring Festival were stranded at railway terminals and airports for weeks.

According to China's Civil Affairs Ministry statistics, a total of 107 people died and eight others went missing in the snow disaster.

In the central Hubei Province, sleet which started on Monday, forced the closure of several highways. In some regions, snow measured three to four centimeters. Many college students crossed their fingers hoping the snow will stop.

"The heavy snow last year brought a lot of inconveniences to my trip home," said Ma Liang, a Wuhan University student.

"I hope the snow would abate because it's only three days before my trip home," said the boy, who has been away from home for six months.

In a country where tens of millions struggle to go home before the Spring Festival, which falls on January 26 this year, any snow can easily become a nightmare.

"I could stand in the queue all day long for a homebound train ticket, but I cannot make the annoying snow stopped," Ma said.

In the southwestern Sichuan, the earthquake-devastated province, a road connecting the old seat of Beichuan County and the Yuli Township was forced to close on Wednesday when ice stuck to the ground making driving impossible.

"Thanks to the previous storage of necessities, the normal lives of the displaced earthquake survivors would not be disrupted in the short term," said Lei Jianxin, vice county head of Beichuan.

"Traffic is expected to resume in two weeks," he said.

More than 220 people are working to get rid of the ice. Vehicles have to use a detour to reach Yuli, which is home to 1,400 people. Lei had no idea if any of them planned to travel forthe festival.

At the end of 2008, China's Ministry of Railways (MOR) released an emergency mechanism in preparation for possible severe weather such as snow storms and fog.

"We will learn a lesson from last year and get prepared for the possible difficulty caused by the snow storm," said the MOR spokesman Wang Yongping.

(Xinhua News Agency January 8, 2009)