SEASONAL PREDICTIONS FOR SPRING AND AUTUMN SURFACE AIR TEMPERATURES OVER SOUTHERN CHINA BY THE NCEP CFSV2

In this study, we investigate the variations of spring and autumn air temperatures in southern China (SC) and associated atmospheric circulation patterns. During the boreal spring, the SC air temperature is mainly influenced by tropical sea surface temperature anomalies (SSTAs). On the one hand, the El Niño SSTA pattern may induce a stronger-than-normal western Pacific subtropical high, which leads to warming in SC. On the other hand, the warm SSTAs in the tropical Indian Ocean may trigger anomalous Rossby wave trains, which propagate northeastward and result in anomalously high temperature in SC. During the boreal autumn, however, the SC temperature is more likely affected by mid-latitude atmospheric circulation, such as the wave trains forced by the North Atlantic SSTAs. The NCEP Climate Forecast System version 2 (CFSv2) is able to capture the climatology of SC air temperatures during both spring and autumn. For interannual variation, the CFSv2 shows a good skill for predicting the SC temperature in spring, due to the model’s good performance in capturing the associated atmospheric circulation anomalies as responses to tropical SSTAs, in spite of the overestimated relationship with the El Niño–CSouthern Oscillation (ENSO). However, the model has a poor skill for predicting the SC temperature in autumn, primarily due to the unrealistic prediction of its relationship with the ENSO.