Seventeen expressways in northeast China were forced to close on Friday in the wake of a rare snowstorm, transport authorities said.

All the 15 expressways in Liaoning Province were closed, which led to a halt of long-distance bus services, the provincial expressway administration said.

The Taoxian International Airport in Shenyang was closed because of the snowstorm for nearly 12 hours. It reopened 11:00 AM on Friday.

The snow was the heaviest it has been for this time of the yearf or 25 years, according to Han Jiangwen, chief weatherman of the Shenyang observatory.

It began to rain Thursday morning and turned into heavy snow in the evening. Most parts of the province received 10 mm of precipitation between 8:00 AM on Thursday and 8:00 AM on Friday, while the counties of Huanren and Kuandian received the most precipitation of 37 mm.

The deepest snow was in Kaiyuan County, at 21 cm. In Shenyang, many people found they could not move their cars out of knee-deep snowdrifts on Friday morning.

In Jilin Province, two expressways were shut down after 18 counties and cities were hit by the snowstorm.

Ten counties and cities received more than 20 mm of precipitation between 8:00 PM on Thursday and 8:00 AM on Friday, according to the Jilin provincial observatory.

Liu Haifeng, deputy director of the observatory, said, "The snowstorm, which is rare at this time of a year, will be helpful for farming as farmers will soon start to plough and sow."

(Xinhua News Agency February 14, 2009)