Wet weather reaches Wuhan as storm sweeps across southern China

Stormy weather returned to parts of China late this week, including the city of Wuhan, the original epicenter of the global coronavirus outbreak that recently ended a two-month lockdown.

A storm system moved into eastern China late this week and began to reorganize after exiting the mountainous terrain of central Asia.

As the storm gathered over southeastern China, it pulled in moisture from the South China Sea. The increased moisture helped to fuel areas of showers and thunderstorms that will continue to spread across southern areas through Saturday night.

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Any thunderstorms can become heavy and threaten the area with heavy downpours, gusty winds and frequent lightning strikes.

While storms will bring their own potential threats, steadier rainfall is expected across the rest of southeastern China.

The heaviest rain is forecast to fall along the path of the storm from parts of eastern Sichuan to Zhejiang and may extend as far south as northern Fujian, Guangdong and Guangxi by Saturday night.

This will include Guizhou and Hunan, two provinces that reported deadly landslides in late March and early April after frequent downpours moved through the area.

However, if the storm tracks farther north, it could bring periods of heavier rainfall to the city of Wuhan. The city has already received 5.6 mm (0.22 of an inch) as of early Saturday local time.

Some showers and storms are also expected to reach northern Taiwan with the heaviest precipitation likely to be in the mountains.

Rainfall totals can climb to 13-25 mm (0.5-1.0 inch) across southeastern China. Areas that receive prolonged downpours could receive rainfall totals as high as 25-50 mm (1-2 inches). An AccuWeather Local StormMax™ of 100 mm (4 inches) is likely in this area.

While rainfall totals of this amount can easily lead to localized flash flooding, the wet weather pattern and saturated soil will increase the risk for more widespread flash flooding and mudslides.

With stormy weather expected into the weekend, residents of southeastern China are reminded to be aware of quickly changing weather conditions as people begin to venture outside following the lifting of lockdown restrictions.

The storm will then move into the East China Sea into Sunday morning where it is forecast to intensify further. This storm could then swing north to impact southern Japan Sunday into Monday.

Keep checking back on AccuWeather.com and stay tuned to the AccuWeather Network on DirecTV, Frontier and Verizon Fios.

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