Scorching weather expected to linger

High temperatures have led to droughts in most parts of China over the past few days and are forecast to continue, according to the China Meteorological Administration and its local meteorological services.

A high near 40 C hit the Inner Mongolia autonomous region on Monday, and temperatures reached around 39 C in the provinces of Hebei, Shandong, Jilin, Liaoning and in Beijing municipality, according to the administration.

The administration forecast over the weekend that in June, high temperatures will scorch most parts of China for longer than the same period during normal years.

According to the weather service in Inner Mongolia, droughts are expanding in the area. Since May, rainfall in the central and western parts of the region has declined.

By Sunday, droughts had expanded across 44 million hectares, more than 40 percent of the region's land area, with the most severe condition in grazing areas and moderate conditions in agricultural areas, the region's weather service said.

The Henan climate center issued an orange alert for drought on Saturday, the second highest level, saying that droughts have covered 60 percent of the province's land area.

On Sunday, the weather service with Anhui province said that for 20 days there had been no sufficient precipitation there. In its cities of Fuyang and Lu'an, drought conditions have reached the severe level, the highest ranking.

Chen Lijuan, a chief forecaster with the administration, said that less rain and higher temperatures resulted in droughts in these areas.

She said that for the past three months, temperatures were about 2 C higher on average and precipitation was 20 to 80 percent below normal.

"That is because Northeast China and most regions of the Yellow and Huaihe rivers are mainly affected by northerly winds that lead to less water vapor transported there, thus less rain," she said.

The administration urged residents to pay attention to hot weather warnings and take precautions to stay away from disasters caused by heat.