THE FEATURES OF EAST ASIAN JET STREAM IN PERSISTENT SNOWSTORM AND FREEZING RAIN PROCESSES OVER SOUTHERN CHINA IN EARLY 2008

Based on the National Centers for Environmental Prediction and National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCEP/NCAR) daily reanalysis data and the upper-level objective analysis data provided by the Meteorological Information Comprehensive Analysis and Process System (MICAPS), the feature of the spatio-temporal variation of the East Asian jet stream (EAJS) in persistent snowstorm and freezing rain processes over southern China in January 2008 have been investigated. Each of the storm events was closely linked with the extraordinarily abnormal variations of East Asian subtropical jet (EASJ) and East Asian polar front jet (EAPJ) at that time. The stronger EASJ with abnormally northward position of the jet axis corresponded to the more intense storm event with broader ranges and longer duration time. The heavy freezing-rain-and-snow event occurred over the region where a strong southerly wind of EASJ prevailed. Meanwhile, the westerly and northerly winds of the EAPJ were significantly intensified, which were also closely related to the beginning, enhancement, and ending of the heavy snowfall. The meridional component of the EAPJ was dominated by the northerly wind during the snowstorm. Thus, the intensification of the snowstorm was attributed to both the strengthening of the meridional wind of EAPJ and the southerly wind of EASJ. Further analysis indicated that wind speed and the zonal wind of the two jets exhibited precursory signals about half a month prior to this extreme event, and the precursory signals were found in the meridional components of the two jets about 20 days preceding the event. The sudden weakening of the meridional component of EASJ and the zonal component of EAPJ signified the ending of this persistent snowstorm.