The tropical low pressure which formed near Nansha Islands in South China Sea on Wednesday intensified into a tropical storm, the sixth of the kind, early on Saturday.

That will bring along showers in southern parts of Guangdong, and torrential rains in the western parts of the province in the forthcoming three days, which will help ease off the hot weather in the province, said Lin Liangshun, chief forecaster with Guangzhou Central Observatory.

According to Lin, the eye of the tropical storm moved to the maritime waters 13.9 degrees north latitude and 112.5 degrees east longitude, or about 580 km to the southeast of Sanya of Hainan Province, by 8 AM on Saturday, packing up a strong wind at a speed of 65 kilometers per hour in the nearby areas.

And the tropical storm continues to move northwestwardly and was expected to reach the offshore waters to the southern parts of Hainan, which is separated away from Guangdong Province by Qiongzhou Strait.

Most parts of Guangdong have been thrown under a spell of high temperature on Friday and Saturday. The temperature in 59 cities and counties in Guangdong were monitored to be above 35 degrees Celsius, and Guangzhou, the provincial capital of Guangdong, on Friday had the hottest weather of this summer, with the temperature recorded at 36.9 degrees Celsius.

(Xinhua News Agency August 4, 2007)