© AFPA group of seals try to break free after they were frozen stuck in a pool at a nature reserve in Yantai, in northeast China's Shandong province, on January 11, 2010.
Northern China braced for another blast of frigid air Monday, as coal shortages neared "alarming" levels due to surging power use amid a prolonged cold snap, the government and state media reported.
The new cold front is expected to send temperatures plummeting -- to as low as minus 35 degrees Celsius (-31 degrees Fahrenheit) in northern Heilongjiang province -- for much of the week, the central weather bureau said.
Icy weather has gripped northern China since the start of the year, with heavy snows snarling air, road and rail traffic last week, and the diving mercury causing a spike in power use.
The situation has crimped power supplies as weather-related transport bottlenecks have disrupted coal shipments to power stations.
The National Power Dispatch and Communication Centre said that as of Sunday coal reserves at 205 power plants had dwindled to the "alarming" seven-day supply level, Xinhua news agency reported.
It said another 598 major power plants had seen reserves fall to nine-day supplies.
