The Beijing Commission of Urban Management has instructed all heating service providers to complete system pressurization, water filling, cold-run debugging, and household inspections by Oct 31, so that centralized heating systems are ready for operation by Nov 1.

Since mid-October, the commission has increased its frequency of consultations with the Beijing Meteorological Observatory in response to the unusually cold weather. The city will continue to assess meteorological data to determine the exact timing for activating heating in line with established procedures.

Approximately?1.07 billion square meters of urban areas in Beijing will be covered by centralized heating. This includes 701 million square meters for residential use and 369 million square meters for nonresidential use, according to the commission.

This year, Beijing has addressed over 950 potential hazards, upgraded about 1,300 kilometers of outdated heating pipelines, and carried out smart retrofitting for heating systems in 30 million square meters of existing buildings.

According to the observatory, the city recorded its first sub-zero temperature of the autumn on Oct 22.

Zhao Wei, the chief forecaster, described the current cold wave as "seeping" in nature, with successive waves of cold air preventing temperatures from rebounding quickly. Although temperatures are expected to gradually rise from Oct 22, multiple weak cold air movements later in the month may still cause minor fluctuations.