Causes for an extreme cold condition over Northeast Asia during April 2020

Although 2020 was the fourth warmest year on record in northern Asia, the cold condition in April 2020 caused severe damage to the agricultural and marine ecosystems in northeastern Asia. Previous studies have indicated that the dipole atmospheric circulation over Siberia and the East Sea (Japan Sea) produced this cold environment with strong northwesterly wind. However, the potential causes of the dipole circulation over northeastern Asia remain unclear. In this study, we found that the East Atlantic/Western Russia (EAWR) pattern and blocking combined to produce the atmospheric structure. The wave train originated from the vorticity forcing of northwestern/central Russia and propagated from Western Europe to the East Sea via the background westerly and northerly winds. In addition, the Siberian blocking days increased eleven times in April 2020 relative to the climatological average, and an easterly (westerly) anomaly was observed over Mongolia-northeastern China (northern Russia). The strong blocking and EAWR pattern led to the robust atmospheric dipole structure with a prevailing northerly flow in April 2020, thereby causing the extreme cold condition over northeastern Asia. Our results provide novel insights into the cause of extreme cold condition in April over northeastern Asia.