BEIJING, Dec. 27 (Xinhua) -- China's national observatory on Thursday renewed its alert for strong cold air. The front has swept parts of the country with sharp temperature drops and fierce winds that will likely linger over the next few days.

Most northern regions felt the impact over the past 24 hours as temperatures in Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, Beijing and surrounding areas and Shandong fell by four to eight degrees Celsius.

The National Meteorological Center (NMC) maintained the alert level at blue, the least severe in its four-tier warning system, according to its website Thursday.

The cold front will start moving southward from Thursday to next Monday and reach areas to the south of the Yellow River, plunging temperatures by more than 14 degrees Celsius. The NMC cited that provinces including Guizhou and Hunan will be the hardest-hit places.

China's southwestern areas and the Tibet Autonomous Region will also be affected in the coming days.

The NMC also forecasts strong winds and heavy snowfall in some places.