BEIJING - A heat wave will continue to scorch South China over the next three days with temperatures rising over 35 degrees Celsius, the National Meteorological Center (NMC) forecast on Friday.

The country's weather observatory said hot weather will hit areas along the Yellow and Huaihe rivers, regions along the Yangtze and Huaihe rivers, areas south of the Yangtze River, South China, as well as parts of Sichuan province, Guizhou province, Chongqing municipality and Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region in the coming three days.

Parts of Zhejiang, Jiangsu, Anhui, Hubei, Hunan and Jiangxi provinces will see temperatures climb to 40 to 41 degrees Celsius, according to the observatory.

The NMC also forecast that rainstorms will sweep parts of Yunnan, Sichuan and Heilongjiang provinces as well as Inner Mongolia autonomous region over the next three days.

It added that rainfall will hit northwest China, Inner Mongolia and North and Northeast China on Sunday and Monday.