China renews alerts for heat wave, rainstorms

BEIJING - China's national weather center renewed a yellow alert for high temperatures in central and southern regions and a blue alert for rainstorms, mostly in the north.

High temperatures will persist south of the Yangtze River, in provinces along the Yellow River and Huaihe River, and parts of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region from Saturday to Monday, the National Meteorological Center (NMC) said.

Temperatures above 35 degrees Celsius are expected on Saturday, reaching 40 degrees in some areas.

Meanwhile, rainstorms are expected in north and northeast China, and parts of Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi and Hainan and in the coming three days. Some of those areas will see thunder storms and gales, the NMC forecast.

China has a four-tier weather warning system, with red representing the most severe, followed by orange, yellow and blue.