More heavy rain and heat on horizon

China's top observatory renewed alerts for rainstorms and high temperatures on Wednesday, forecasting heavy downpours and scorching heat across the country this week.

The National Meteorological Center issued an orange alert for rainstorms and a yellow alert for high temperatures. In the country's four-tier, color-coded warning system, red represents the most severe level, followed by orange, yellow and blue.

The main rain belt is expected to continue shifting back and forth in the Yellow River-Huaihe River region — covering parts of the provinces of Henan, Shandong, Jiangsu and Anhui — until Saturday, while also affecting the provinces of Sichuan and Shaanxi, with accumulated precipitation up to 500 millimeters in some areas, Zhang Fanghua, chief forecaster at the center, said on Tuesday.

The rainfall is expected to be accompanied by thunder, lightning and intense winds, with maximum hourly rainfall exceeding 100 millimeters in some areas. From Sunday to Tuesday, the rain belt will move northward to hit the eastern part of Northwest China, North China and Northeast China, Zhang added.

She said the rainstorms, which started 10 days ago, are the result of a western Pacific subtropical high and the interaction between a warm and humid airflow from the southwest and weak cold air from the north. Compared to the previous rainfall in southern parts of China, this round is characterized by higher intensity, longer duration and more concentrated distribution.

Faced with intense rainfall conditions in Central China, the National Commission for Disaster Reduction activated a Level IV national emergency response for severe rainstorms and flooding in Henan and dispatched a working group on Wednesday to provide assistance to disaster-stricken areas.

Parts of Hubei, Hunan, Jiangsu, Anhui, Zhejiang, Fujian and Guangdong provinces, along with Chongqing and the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, are expected to experience high temperatures on Thursday. Scorching heat will continue to extend northward, and North China will experience temperatures exceeding 35 C from Thursday through Monday, Zhang said.

Zheng Zhihai, chief forecaster at the National Climate Center, said the multiple occurrences of extreme heat, droughts and floods since last month are related to the impact of El Nino, which lasted from May last year to May this year and has a lagging effect. It tends to strengthen the western Pacific subtropical high and result in more frequent and intense extreme weather events.

The National Meteorological Center has continuously issued alerts for rainstorms since early last month and alerts for high temperatures over the past two weeks.

limenghan@chinadaily.com.cn