CHENGDU - The heaviest snowfall to hit Sichuan province in 20 years may cause food shortages for pandas living in wilderness area, a panda specialist reported on Tuesday.

Wolong county's mountains, a major giant panda habitat, were hit by a rare blizzard on Sunday and Monday.

As of Monday night, at least 22 cm of snow had accumulated, said Zhang Hemin, head of the China Giant Panda Protection and Research Center.