Typhoons to bring heavy rain, winds across southern, eastern China

Several tropical cyclones are active over waters surrounding China, with Typhoon Narra expected to bring heavy rain to southern regions later this week and another system making landfall in Fujian province, forecasters said on Monday.

Typhoon Narra, the 19th named storm of the year, circled over the Beibu Gulf on Monday with maximum sustained winds of about 23 meters per second, according to Wang Haiping, chief forecaster at the National Meteorological Center.

The storm is projected to remain nearly stationary over the gulf through Tuesday before gradually turning northeast toward the coast of the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region and the western Leizhou Peninsula in Guangdong province.

Narra's main impact on Guangxi is expected around Thursday and Friday, including potentially heavy rainfall, Wang said.

Meanwhile, the remnant tropical depression of Typhoon Gaenari, the year's 20th named storm, restrengthened into a tropical storm around noon on Monday before making landfall near Quanzhou in Fujian province, at about 12:30 pm. The system moved northwest after landfall and is gradually weakening.

Concurrently, Typhoon Saudel, the 18th named storm, maintained super typhoon status on Monday about 1,400 kilometers east of Taipei, Taiwan, in the northwestern Pacific. Forecasters are monitoring a possible landfall in the region between Zhejiang and Fujian, after which it could continue westward, Wang said.

Together, the three systems could affect different parts of southern and eastern China. Narra could mainly threaten Guangxi, Guangdong and Hainan province, while Saudel could affect areas from eastern to southern China.

Meanwhile, northern China is expected to see frequent rounds of showers and thunderstorms through the end of the month as cold air interacts with abundant moisture along the edge of the subtropical high, said Ma Xuekuan, another chief forecaster at the National Meteorological Center.

Showers and thunderstorms hit parts of the Inner Mongolia autonomous region, southern North China and the northeastern region on Monday. Parts of Liaoning province, Jilin province and Heilongjiang province could receive heavy to torrential rain, accompanied by strong thunderstorms, damaging winds and hail.

From Tuesday to Thursday, a stronger rain belt is expected to move from west to east across the eastern parts of Northwest China, western Inner Mongolia, North China and southern Northeast China.

Most areas will receive moderate to heavy rain, with some locations seeing torrential or exceptionally heavy rainfall and localized hail and strong winds.

Northern China has not experienced a typical widespread, prolonged episode of heavy rain this year, Ma said. Instead, rainfall has been characterized by frequent weather events with intense precipitation concentrated in localized areas.

While widespread rainfall has been relatively limited, downpours can still be intense in some locations, accompanied by strong convective weather, he said, adding that the pattern is expected to continue through the end of August.