Northern cold currents will bring rainfall in most regions of China as the week-long National Day holiday comes to a close.

China Meteorological Administration (CMA) said yesterday that temperatures would drop dramatically in western and northern China in the coming three days because of the strong cold currents, which have hit the western part of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region.

"The currents will continuously move forward to affect southern and eastern China, and temperatures in the regions they cover will drop by an average of 4 C to 8 C," said the administration.

With the arrival of a strong downward cold air front, the northern areas of North China and parts of Northeast China will witness chilly weather with temperatures dropping by 10 C on average.

Jointly caused by warm and wet air in the south and northern cold currents, rainfall will occur in eastern and central China and Southwest China.

Unfortunately, heavy rain has been forecast for southern parts of Shaanxi Province, where floods since late September have already forced 286,000 evacuations.

Heavy rain is also expected in Henan, Hubei, Sichuan, Guizhou, Jilin and Liaoning provinces.

It's the first time for these massive cold currents to sweep across China within 10 days.

During the first day of the holidays, drizzle to moderate rain was also forecast for parts of northern China and areas between the Yellow and Huaihe rivers as well as regions between the Huaihe and Yangtze rivers.

The unexpected weather has upset travel plans for many holiday makers.

"I had to buy jackets when my family was travelling in Central China's Changsha," said Liu Xiaojun, a Beijing-based journalist, who had to shorten her family's stay in Hunan Province and returned home yesterday because of rain and cold weather.

(China Daily October 8, 2005)