More blizzards and thunderstorms will hit southern China this month, a crucial month for cultivating rice, top meteorologists warned yesterday.

This follows the worst drought in 50 years in northern China, which has plagued 40 percent of the country's wheat harvest.

"The weather conditions ahead are not optimistic for farmers," said Zhai Panmao, director of China Meteorological Administration (CMA)'s forecast services and disaster mitigation department.

Although grain officials have said China's grain stocks remain secure despite the drought, meteorologists worry disasters might spread to southern parts of the country, where farmers will soon be planting rice, the staple Chinese food.

The country has had the most frequent thunderstorms between January and March in the past decade, and so far this year natural disasters have been more severe, Zhai told a press briefing.

Wind and hail storms have swept through 14 provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions this year and caused 700 million yuan (US$102 million) in direct losses, CMA figures showed. Last year's storms hit nine provinces and autonomous regions and resulted in a direct loss of only 35 million yuan.

"(The blizzards and thunderstorms this year) have come earlier, in higher numbers and brought greater damage," CMA spokesman Yu Xinwen added.

Unusually persistent rainy weather in the lower and middle reaches of the Yangtze River since mid-February has already had "some impact" on local agricultural production, according to Zhai.

At the same time, dramatic temperature fluctuations were observed in the north, where abnormally freezing weather, followed by some of history's highest spring temperatures in mid-to-late March, was accompanied by waves of cold air, he said.

CMA chief Zheng Guoguang earlier warned that more sandstorms will hit northern China this spring.

"The weather can become worse than we think, and we must be fully prepared," Zheng told China Daily in February.

Yesterday, China started a three-month nationwide check of its grain stocks - the first such grain inventory check since 2001.

CMA statistics show that natural disasters, including non-weather-related ones, caused losses amounting to 2.8 percent of GDP from 2001 to 2008. Last January's blizzards affected 22 provinces and cities, causing losses of 151.6 billion yuan.

(China Daily April 2, 2009)