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," Jiao said.

Beijing had 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.

(Xinhua News Agency February 9, 2011)