A contrasting study of freezing disasters in January 2008 and in winter of 1954/1955 in China

doi:10.1007/s11707-009-0028-2

Front Earth Sci Chin

0, Vol.

Issue () : 129-145 https://doi.org/10.1007/s11707-009-0028-2

FEATURE ARTICLE

A contrasting study of freezing disasters in January 2008 and in winter of 1954/1955 in China

Yihui DING(

), Xiaolong JIA, Zunya WANG, Xianyan CHEN, Lijuan CHEN

National Climate Center, China Meteorological Administration (CMA), Beijing 100081, China

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Abstract

The present paper has made a comparison of major similarities and differences of extreme cold events between the cold and warm periods for recent 50 years, in order to gain a better insight into the impact of the global warming on extreme cold events in China. Two typical events of low temperature, ice freezing and snow disasters that occurred in January 2008 and in the winter of 1954/1955, respectively, are selected as representative cases for the cold period (1950’s-1970’s) and the warm period (1980’s-present). The contrasting study has revealed that these two events both occurred under long-persistent blocking circulation over Eurasian continent, with continuous invasions of strong cold air into China mainland. They nearly brought about similar weather disasters such as extensive low temperature, record-breaking freezing rains and exceptionally heavy snowfalls. However, due to active northward transport of warm and moist air from Bay of Bengal and Indo-China Peninsula in the warm period, the January 2008 case had longer freezing rain days and heavier snowstorms in South China, thus leading to much more severe damage to electric grids and transportations. The case of the 1954/1955 winter was a stronger, extreme cold event than the case of January 2008, in terms of magnitudes of temperature drop and severity of impact on river icing. It was gradually recovered to normal condition while the case of January 2008 had a very rapid recovery to warming condition due to impact of the global warming.

Keywords global warming cold period (1950’s-1970’s) and warm period (1980’s-present) cold air activity freezing rains

Corresponding Author(s): DING Yihui,Email:dingyh@cma.gov.cn

Issue Date: 05 June 2009

Cite this article:

Yihui DING,Zunya WANG,Xianyan CHEN, et al. A contrasting study of freezing disasters in January 2008 and in winter of 1954/1955 in China[J]. Front Earth Sci Chin, 0, (): 129-145.

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https://academic.hep.com.cn/fesci/EN/10.1007/s11707-009-0028-2
https://academic.hep.com.cn/fesci/EN/Y0/V/I/129

Fig.1 Mean temperature anomalies for 1 December 1954-20 January 1955 (a) and for 10 January-2 Febuary 2008(b) in China. Inserted diagrams in left bottom corners indicate different ranges of temperature departure with various colors.

Fig.2 The maximum drop of the daily mean temperature for 1 December 1954-20 January 1955 (a) and for 11 January 10 February 2008 (b)

Fig.3 Same as Fig. 2 but for the daily maximum temperature

Fig.4 Same as Fig. 2 but for the daily minimum temperature

Fig.5 Percentage of rainfall anomalies for 1 December 1954-31 January 1955 (a) and for 10 January-2 February 2008 (b)

Fig.6 The curve of the winter maximum continuous ice freezing days from 1951/1952 to 2007/2008 averaged for Anhui, Guizhou, Hunan and Jiangxi (the solid line represents the climatological mean)

Fig.7 Return period of ice freezing for winter 1954/1955 (a) and for 10 January-2 February 2008 (b). The numbers in left lower corner represent the return period, e.g. 20=once in 20 years

Fig.8 The maximum continuous rain (snow) days for 1 December 1954-20 January 1955

Fig.9 Mean circulation patterns at 500 hPa for 1December 1954-20 January 1955 (a) and for 11 January-3 February 2008 (b). Unit: gpm. Shaded areas represent positive and negative anomalies of geopotation height.

Fig.10 Evolution of geopotential height anomalies of the Ural blocking high (55°N-65°N, 70°E-90°E) , the low trough over Central Asia (30°N-40°N, 65°E-75°E) and the southern trough of the Bay of Bengal (15°N-25°N, 85°E-95°E) for 1December 1954-20 January 1955 (a) and for 11 January-3 February 2008 (b)

Fig.11 Longitude-time sections of the geopotential height anomalies at 700hPa along 25°N for 1 December 1954-20 January 1955(a) and for 11 January-10 February 2008 (b) (Shaded areas denote negative anomalies)

Fig.12 Streamline fields at 850 hPa for 1December 1954-20 January 1955(a) and for 11 January-10 February 2008 (b) (shaded areas denote 200 hPa jet stream)

Fig.13 Latitude-altitude section of the streamlines along 105°E-120°E longitudinal range for December 1954-20 January 1955(a) and for 25 January-3 February (b)

Fig.14 Mean temperature anomalies in China for the clod period (1950’s-1970’s) (a) and for the warm period (1980’s-2000’s) (b)

Fig.15 means temperature anomalies in China from preceding May to next October for the 5412 disaster (red line) and for the 0801 disaster (blue line)

Fig.16 Means temperature anomalies of winter in China from 1951/1952 to 2007/2008

Tab.1 Comparison of major features between the 5412 disaster and the 0801 disaster

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