Heavy snowfall on Tuesday night led to several flight delays and cancellations at Beijing Capital International Airport.

As of 10 am on Wednesday, 51 flights had been cancelled and 80 delayed, mostly those bound for Shanghai, Guilin and Harbin, Mirror Evening News reported.

The airport will release flight information for passengers every half hour, the report said.

Snowfall hit most parts of Beijing from 8 pm on Tuesday and 6 am on Wednesday.

As of 6 am on Wednesday, the average precipitation was 6.9 mm and the maximum was recorded in Yanqing, which had 28.3 mm, Beijing Meteorological Bureau said.

Some areas saw snow 20 cm deep.

The snowfall hit the capital on the Chinese traditional calendar date of chunfen, which heralds the beginning of spring.