Moderate rain relief to parched land

Mild rainfall brought some relief to farmers in the country's drought-hit areas yesterday, with Beijing too getting its share.

The rain could push down the unusually high temperatures in North China by 4C to 6C today, the National Meteorological Center (NMC) said.

"Mild showers will continue till Saturday with 5-10 mm of precipitation expected in severely drought-hit provinces such as Shandong and Hebei," NMC chief forecaster Lin Jian said.