Rain, wind forecast as cold front cuts wide swath across country

Many regions across the country will be hit by high winds and precipitation, with temperatures dropping by as much as 15 C, as a new bout of cold air penetrates the country, according to the national observatory.

With the arrival of cold air on Saturday, the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region experienced a general temperature decrease of 6 to 8 C. A similar decrease is expected in northwestern China, northern China and many areas in the central and eastern parts of the country in the coming three days, the National Meteorological Center said in a media release on Monday.

Some areas in the Yellow Sea, South China Sea and East China Sea may experience gusts of up to 100 kilometers per hour from Monday night to Wednesday, it said.

Zhang Tao, chief forecaster at the center, said Hubei province and northern Hunan and Jiangxi provinces are expected to see temperature decreases of more than 15 C. Temperature increases will occur in northern China on Friday but a little bit later in the south.

The center also said many areas in the central and eastern parts of the country will be engulfed by rain until Thursday. Some areas will experience snow, including northern China and eastern parts of Northwest China. Some areas in southern China will also be stricken by convective weather, which is characterized by strong winds, hail, thunderstorms and brief but heavy rainfall.

Most of the precipitation will fall from Monday night to Tuesday daytime. Brief but heavy rain will hit some areas in Henan, Anhui, Hubei, Jiangsu and Hunan provinces, the first three of which will also experience thunderstorms, high winds or hail, Zhang said.

"This bout of cold air and precipitation will obviously relieve the fire risks in forests and prairies in northern China," Zhang said, adding that the temperature decrease, wide-spreading stable precipitation and the comparatively slow wind could all help reduce the risk.

A red alert, the highest level, has been issued for forest fires in northern and southwestern regions. The risk of fires will stay at the highest level until Monday in Beijing and Tianjin, and in Hebei, Shanxi and Sichuan provinces.

Zhang said that people in areas affected by convective weather should take precautionary measures and pay close attention to weather forecasts if they travel.

Convective weather is typically listed after typhoons, earthquakes and floods for destructiveness.

According to the top emergency management authority, China was stricken by five connective weather events in the first quarter this year. The most destructive and longest-lasting one hit Anhui, Jiangxi and Hunan provinces and the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region from March 19 to 22, leaving nine people dead.