Climate of China

It ranges from tropical in the far south to subarctic in the far north, and alpine in the higher elevations of the Tibetan Plateau.

During the summer, the East Asian Monsoon carries warm and moist air from the south and delivers the vast majority of the annual precipitation in much of the country.

[3][4] The northern extremities of both Heilongjiang and Inner Mongolia have a subarctic climate[5] with long, severe winters, and short, warm summers.

Toksun County, located in the Turpan Depression, has an average rainfall of just 3.9 mm (0.15 in) annually, the lowest precipitation in any area in China.

[17] Only in some pockets of the Dzungaria region of Xinjiang is the conspicuous seasonal variation in precipitation that defines Chinese (and, to a large extent, East Asian) climate absent.

In 1975, Typhoon Nina struck China, and may have killed up to 230,000 people as a result of the subsequent Banqiao Dam failure and famines.

[29] In 2021, Typhoon In-fa caused record-breaking rainfall in parts of China,[35][36] and over 12,000 temporary shelters had to be set up in Zhejiang.

The 1931 China floods are considered to be the worst Chinese natural disaster of all time, with estimates of fatalities ranging widely but going up to as high as four million people.

On 23 June 2016, a violent EF4 tornado ripped through the city of Yancheng in Jiangsu, killing 98 people and injuring 846, many of them critically.

Seasonal patterns in sunshine vary considerably by region, but overall, the north and the Tibetan Plateau are sunnier than the south of the country.

[57][58] Although barrier tree lines planted since the 1970s have reduced the frequency of sandstorms, prolonged drought and poor agricultural practices have resulted in dust storms plaguing northern China each spring, which then spread to other parts of East Asia, including Japan and Korea.

[62][63] Much of China has a climate very suitable for agriculture and the country has been the world's largest producer of rice, wheat, tomatoes, eggplant, grapes, watermelon, spinach, and many other crops.

[134][135] China is the world's largest emitter of carbon dioxide, through an energy infrastructure heavily focused on coal.