ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Earth Sci.
Sec. Atmospheric Science
Volume 13 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/feart.2025.1613160
A case study of extreme rainstorm in northern Xinjiang under the influence of large-scale circulation and topography
Provisionally accepted
- 1Institute of Desert Meteorology,CMA, Urumqi, China
- 2Altai Meteorological Bureau of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, Altai, China
- 3Wujiaqu Meteorological Bureau of the Sixth Division，Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps, Wujiaqu, China
- 4Xinjiang Meteorological Observatory, Urumqi, China
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Based on the automated weather station data, FY-4A satellite products, ECWMF model sounding data, NCEP-FNL and ERA5 reanalysis datasets, this study analyzes the environmental field characteristics of an extreme regional heavy rainfall event in Northern Xinjiang from August 7-9, 2023. The results indicated that the heavy rainfall occurred under the circulation of the easterntype South Asian High. Influenced by the upstream European blocking high and the downstream East Siberian ridge, the West Siberian trough merged with the Central Asian trough. Shortwave troughs ahead of the merged system continuously propagated eastward into Northern Xinjiang, interacting with a strong and persistent low-level southwest jet stream convergence zone, triggering widespread heavy rainfall. The atmospheric stratification, characterized by warm lower layers and cold upper layers, along with mesoscale convergence induced by low-level wind shear lines, and the presence of high-energy zones, facilitated the release of substantial convective unstable energy. This triggered the rapid development and maintenance of Meso-β-scale convective cloud clusters, resulting in localized short-duration precipitation. Water vapor was primarily transported via the dominant western channel, supplemented by the eastern channel. Stable synoptic systems enabled significant water vapor to reach the heavy rainfall area in advance. Specifically, the western boundary contributed to full-layer water vapor input, while the southern boundary provided mid-toupper-level input. This led to increased water vapor flux, enhanced convergence, and prolonged saturation. Influenced by local topography, low-level wind convergence, dual-center vertical velocity and divergence configurations with a forward-tilted structure rapidly intensified precipitation. Geostationary satellite products were valuable for monitoring water vapor transport, mesoscale convective system development, and issuing early warnings.
Keywords: Northern Xinjiang, regional heavy rainfall, atmospheric circulation, water vapor transport, Geostationary satellite
Received: 16 Apr 2025; Accepted: 24 Jun 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Li, LI, Jiang, Jiang, Zhang, Yang and Li. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Cailian Jiang, Wujiaqu Meteorological Bureau of the Sixth Division，Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps, Wujiaqu, China
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