Abstract:The main characteristics of the general atmospheric circulation in August 2013 are as follows: The polar vortex took the form of one single pole surrounding the North Pole and the geopotential height to the east of Lake Baikal had distinct minus anomaly. The upper troughs and northeast cold vortex in North China were active. The Northwest Pacific subtropical high was stronger than normal. The monthly mean precipitation amount was 101.0 mm， which is 4.1% more than normal. The monthly mean temperature was 22.0℃, being 1.2℃ higher than normal and it is the warmest August (same as 2006) since 1961. There were 7 large range heavy rainfall processes over China in this month. Heavy rainfall frequently appeared in Northeast China and due to the 5 local severe precipitation events, flood disasters attacked Songhua River, Nenjiang River and Heilongjiang River. Six tropical cyclones appeared over the South China Sea and Northwest Pacific and three of them landed China. Abnormal high temperature weather occurred in the west of Huanghuai area and the major part to the south of Huaihe River with the maximum temperature of many places reaching 38-40℃ and even higher than 40℃ in some local areas.