A cold front is worsening the icing situation in the coast off east China's Shandong Province, which has just been temporarily relieved from China's worst sea ice in three decades, officials said Tuesday.

North China Sea Branch (NCSB) of the State Oceanic Administration issued a sea ice alert Tuesday, the first since Jan. 27 when temperature climbed and ice started to melt.

Ice in the Liaodong Bay and northern Yellow Sea extended 10 and 9 nautical miles respectively to 79 and 26 nautical miles on Tuesday, according to the NCSB.

The extension of ice in the Bohai Bay and Laizhou Bay can not be measured due to heavy fog. Ice in the Liaodong Bay is likely to keep on expanding in the coming five days, said Shang Jie, a forecaster with NCSB.

"Icing in the Liaodong Bay and northern Yellow Sea will expand significantly and that of the other two bays will develop at a slower pace," Shang added.

Icing first appeared in early January. Thick ice threatened ship navigation, anchoring and operations at ports, impacted local fishery and stranded some people on islands. NCSB had to issue sea ice alerts everyday between Jan. 12 and 27.

(Xinhua News Agency Februray 2, 2010)