No end in sight to dry weather

The severe drought that has spread to 12 provincial regions since November will not end soon, a senior official from the National Meteorological Center (NMC) said yesterday at a press conference.

Zhai Panmao, director of the prediction and disaster mitigation department of the NMC, said it had been over three decades since a similarly prolonged drought had struck winter wheat areas and said global warming was to blame.

Even so, Zhai predicted some of the drought regions in north China would experience light rainfall over the weekend.