BEIJING - The National Meteorological Center on Sunday issued a blue alert on rainstorms, forecasting heavy rains will continue in parts of southern and southeast China.

The observatory lowered Saturday's yellow alert on rainstorms to a blue one, the least serious level in China's four-tier color-coded weather warning system, adding the areas to the south of the Yangtze River will be hit the hardest by heavy rains from Sunday to Monday morning.

Downpours or rainstorms will continue to sweep Jiangxi, Zhejiang and Fujian provinces. Sporadic heavy rains are expected in parts of southwest China's Yunnan Province and Tibet Autonomous Region.

In the next three days, areas in Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, north China and northeast China will see showery rain, according to the observatory.