A visitor takes photo of heavy snow in Urumqi, the capital of Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, April 23, 2014. [Photo by Chen Yan/Asianewsphoto]

When the residents of Urumqi who were enjoying the warm spring weather woke up on Tuesday morning, they found themselves being thrown back to the winter again as a blizzard hit the city overnight causing the temperature to plunge sharply.

According to Xinjiang regional meteorological administration, which issued a snowstorm warning on Tuesday morning, the highest temperature in Urumqi, the capital of Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, reached 23.5 C on Monday - the hottest day so far this year - and the temperature could drop to -3 C on Tuesday.

Many people said the weather in the city was acting up and forcing them to put on warm clothes again after T-shirts the day before.

The administration held a press conference on Sunday to issue an early warning about the strong cold front and told farmers to take special precautions to protect their products. No major damage has been reported as of Tuesday morning and the snowfall is expected to stop by afternoon, it said.

Due to the extreme weather, many flights scheduled to take off from Urumqi International Airporton Tuesday morning have been postponed until afternoon.

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