BEIJING: The National Meteorological Center issued dual warnings on Wednesday for torrential rain and sandstorms as volatile weather conditions are expected to affect parts of the country.
The center issued a blue alert for heavy rain at 6 am, the lowest level in China’s four-tier warning system, forecasting downpours from Wednesday morning to Thursday morning across parts of South China and Jiangxi province.
Parts of Guangdong and Jiangxi provinces, Hainan Island, and the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region are expected to experience heavy to torrential rainfall, the center said.
Localized rainstorms with precipitation of 100 to 180 millimeters are forecast in northeastern Guangxi and along its southern coast, as well as in northwestern Guangdong and along its southwestern coast, according to the center.
The center warned that of hourly rainfall in some areas could exceed 70 mm, accompanied by severe convective weather including thunderstorms and gale-force winds.
Chen Boyu, chief forecaster at the center, said the latest round heavy rain was mainly caused by a circulation pattern resembling that of the plum rain season.
Since Friday, heavy rainfall has affected large parts of China, the center said. From 8 am on Friday to 8 am on Tuesday, parts of Sichuan province, Chongqing municipality, and Hubei, Hunan, Guizhou, Guangdong and Hainan provinces, as well as Guangxi, recorded cumulative precipitation exceeding 100 mm.
Chen said two key factors were driving the rainfall. The subtropical high over the South China Sea was positioned unusually far north, continuously transporting warm, moist air from the Indochina Peninsula and the South China Sea into southern China. Meanwhile, a Mongolian cyclone pushed cold air southward. –The Daily Mail-China Daily news exchange item
