No relief in sight for China's parched northwest

BEIJING, Nov 18 (Reuters) A severe drought that is hitting many parts of China is unlikely to loosen its grip on the northwest until spring, the official Xinhua news agency reported today.

It quoted Xia Puming, head of the meteorological bureau in Ningxia, as saying most parts of the mainly Muslin region had reported temperatures 2-3 degrees Celsius above average while rainfall had dropped at least 25 percent since the start of the year.

Urumqi, capital of the far-western region of Xinjiang, had been even hotter, with temperatures 3.6 degrees Celsius higher than usual in the past eight months, Xinhua said.

Shi Yuguang, Xinjiang's top weather forecaster, told Xinhua that rainfall in some arid areas was down 90 percent, with snow coverage on some plateaus reduced by 30 percent to 90 percent.

Drinking water had become a problem for 500,000 people and one million head of livestock in Xinjiang, Xinhua said.

Northwest China is dry at the best of times, but drought has afflicted wide parts of the country. Sichuan experienced its driest summer in 55 years.

According to the China Meteorological Administration, northeast and northern China, parts of the south and centre of the country as well as the Yellow, Huaihe and Yangtze River valleys had rainfall in October that was 50-90 percent below normal.

Shandong province, the country's second-largest wheat area, had to delay planting the crop because rainfall since September was down 80 percent, state media and officials said on October 27.

Xinhua reported earlier this week that it had not rained in Fuzhou, the capital of Fujian province, for two months.

REUTERS DKA SND1422