Severe fog put a damper on air traffic in China's Guangxi Zhuang region, leaving more than 3,000 passengers stranded at a busy southern airport over the weekend.

At 7:00 in the evening on Saturday, 19 flights were canceled while 30 others leaving the popular tourist city of Guilin were been delayed. Guilin Airport authorities said in a media statement some 3,200 air passengers were left high and dry in the airport's terminal building.

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At 9:00 in the evening, visibility in and around the runway was still too bad for landing. All in-bound flights were rerouted to airports in the neighboring cities of Chongqing, Kunming, Guiyang, Nanning, Guangzhou and Changsha.

Weather forecasts said the fog cleared at 10:00 in the morning on Sunday.

The airport in Guilin is a critical air link in south China, with dozens of domestic flights and overseas flights to Kuala Lumpur, Bangkok, Singapore and Seoul, as well as flights to Macao, Taiwan and Hong Kong.

Weather experts said Guilin has had generally mild conditions with four clear seasons -- foggy and rainy summer, pleasant cool autumn, sunny spring and drizzling and breezy winter.

From November to February, when winter in Guilin is in full swing, sweet scented flowers blanket the whole urban area. Snow is rare in that city, but there is a window to enjoy winter snow around the city during the coolest period before or after the Chinese Spring Festival.

Guilin's weather in January is the coolest with an average temperature of 8 degrees Centigrade, while July is the warmest with mean temperature of 28 Centigrade. In China, the rains come on summer, especially in June and May.

The city's climate has been classified as sub-tropical monsoon, with enough sunshine and rain but not much snow. The annual mean temperature is around 19 degrees Centigrade.

Tagsfog, Guilin, delayed flights, canceled flights, air traffic