BEIJING - China's meteorological authorities on Saturday forecast strong winds and temperature drops in most regions in the north due to a sweeping cold front.

On Saturday and Sunday, some areas in southern Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, Inner Mongolia autonomous region, North China as well as regions along the Yellow and Huai rivers will experience temperature drops of 6 to 8 degrees Celsius, the National Meteorological Center (NMC) said on its website.

Certain parts in Qinghai, Inner Mongolia, Gansu, Ningxia and Shaanxi will see temperature slump by as much as 10 degrees Celsius, the NMC said, adding most above-mentioned regions will be hit by winds scaling at level 4 to 6.

The NMC also forecast increasing rainfalls and snows in east and central China. Inner Mongolia autonomous region, Jilin and Heilongjiang are likely to receive heavy snows or blizzards over the coming three days, the NMC added.