BEIJING - The dawn curtained up 2012 by fogging north China and some southern parts away the first sunshine of the new year, and a cold front will bring most regions rainfall and snow from January 1 to January 3, said China's meteorological authority on Sunday.

The National Meteorological Center issued a yellow alert early Sunday morning, the second lowest level in the country's four-scale fog alert system.

Fog and haze will decrease visibility to less than 1,000 meters in north China and most of southern parts, including Shanxi, Hebei, Henan, Shandong, Anhui, Shaanxi, Sichuan, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangxi, Zhejiang, Fujian, Yunnan, Jiangsu, Guangxi and Guangdong, and as low as 200 meters in some areas, the center said, urging people in these regions to drive slowly for safety reasons.

A cold front started to sweep the most of China during the three-day holiday. Rain and snow will fall in south China and the northern parts of north China, including Inner Mongolia, Liaoning, Shandong Peninsula from January1 to January 2, and Tibet Plateau, northwest China, southwest China and regions south of the Yangtze River from January 2 to January 3.

Temperatures will decrease more than four degrees Celsius in most of south China and the parts north to Huaihe River, and even eight to ten degrees Celsius in north Xinjiang, Ningxia, north Shaanxi and central Inner Mongolia.

The weather agency suggested local authorities prepare for temperature drops and fog which impact transport and supply, and residents in these areas put on more clothes to guard against cold.