More snow forecast for hard-hit southwest China

BEIJING, Feb 11 (Reuters) - More snowy weather was forecast for parts of southwest China, the National Meteorological Centre said on Monday, just as the country was recovering from the worst winter weather in decades.

Bad weather could snarl transport just as China is expected to see a peak of railway traffic on Tuesday, the last day of Spring Festival, the lunar new year holiday, when millions of people head back to work from their villages.

Sleet and snow could fall over the hard-hit southwestern province of Guizhou, the centre said, calling for authorities to make preparations to deal with traffic and public safety.

Heavy snow could also hit the far-western provinces of Qinghai, Gansu and Sichuan, as well as Tibet, in the next few days.

"Post-Spring Festival railway traffic peak saw more than five million passengers in one day last year and we expect more in 2008," Xinhua news agency quoted the Railways Ministry as saying.

In most of the country, transport, power generation and food supplies were back to normal by the weekend after freak cold and ice storms that caused billions of dollars in damage and killed at last 80 people. (Reporting by Lindsay Beck; Editing by David Fogarty)