A regional extreme low temperature event and its main atmospheric contributing factors

摘要

The regional extreme low temperature event from December 30, 2010 to February 2, 2011 was a very rare and protracted cold event with the largest integrated index (Z) since 1979. Two meteorological factors could be responsible for this extreme winter event. First, a persistent blocking pattern existed in the mid-latitudes. This not only allowed cold air to persist in southern China but also enabled each perturbation from the west propagating around the blocking high to trigger downstream cold air intrusions from the north. Second, the consistently downward negative Arctic Oscillation (AO) was favorable for the eastward moving of Rossby waves in middle latitudes, which made the upper reaches positive center in SLP and negative center in Z500 move to East Asia. This stable and consistent situation favored the polar area cold air invasion to the mid-latitude region. Of these two factors, the blocking pattern was likely to be the direct cause, the co-effects of consistently strong downward negative AO from the stratosphere, and the corresponding eastward moving wave train in Z500 and SLP might be the prophase teleconnection culprit.