Typhoon impacts on china’s precipitation during 1957-1996

Abstract

Tropical Cyclone (TC) activity is an important feature of China’s climate that can have important impacts on precipitation and can cause extensive property damage. In particular, precipitation from TCs contributes a significant portion of overall precipitation. This study deals with typhoons that influence China and focuses on their impact on China’s precipitation. Four aspects are examined in this research. Firstly, the study of influencing typhoon frequency reveals that the main season that typhoons affect China is from May to November, especially between July and September. The frequency of influencing typhoons was steady during the past 40 years. Secondly, inspection of the climatology of station typhoon precipitation shows that Hainan and the southeastern coastalmost regions are most frequently affected by typhoons, and most of the regions south of the Yangtze River are affected by typhoons each year. Meanwhile, during 1957-1996, most of the typhoon-influenced regions show decreasing trends in typhoon precipitation but only the trends in southern Northeast China are significant. Thirdly, examination of the typhoon cases shows that there exists a significant linear relationship between the precipitation volume and impacted area. Finally, study of variations of typhoon impacts on China’s precipitation suggests that there exists a decreasing trend in the contribution of typhoon precipitation to overall precipitation, while total annual volume of typhoon precipitation decreases significantly during the period.