Major weather systems trigger record rainfall

The recent wave of torrential rainfall and severe flooding has been driven by an unusual combination of atmospheric circulation patterns, including an intensifying subtropical high-pressure system, against a backdrop of global warming, meteorologists said.

Heavy rainfall continued to batter large parts of the country during the early flood season. Since the start of the season on April 1, average national precipitation reached 110.1 millimeters by Friday, about 18.6 percent above the seasonal norm, according to the National Climate Center.

Sun Mingyang, an engineer at the center, said extreme rainfall events have been widespread across both northern and southern China. A total of 76 national-level meteorological stations recorded daily precipitation that broke historical springtime records.

Among them, Enping in Guangdong province recorded 597.7 mm of rainfall in a single day, while Jingzhou in Hubei province, Shangyou in Jiangxi province and Guigang in the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region also exceeded historical daily rainfall records.

Southern China has faced repeated rainstorms, flash flooding and severe convective weather, including thunderstorms and strong winds, Sun said.

Meteorologists said the recent rainfall was largely caused by the combined influence of several major atmospheric systems.

Gao Hui, chief forecaster at the center, said the western Pacific subtropical high, a major weather system influencing East Asia, has remained unusually strong and positioned farther west and north than normal over the past week.

"The system's western flank has continuously transported warm and moist air from tropical oceans into inland China, helping fuel heavy rainfall," Gao said.