Abstract:This paper selects 139 extreme precipitation cases from 1960 to 2012 to study the characteristics of precipitation, weather situation and physical quantity anomaly. The findings indicate that, the extreme precipitation in central China mainly occurs in four different weather situations, namely, the zonal type, the meridional type, the typhoon and cold trough combined type and the short wave trough with warm shear type. The proportions of cases are 42.4%, 30.2%, 17.3% and 10.1%, respectively. The typhoon and cold trough combined type stands on the top in the four types of heavy rain stations, extreme precipitation stations and the extreme rainfall, followed by the zonal type and the meridional type, while the short wave trough with warm shear type is the lowest. The anomaly ratios of low-level water vapor convergence, mid-low-level rising velocity, low-level wind convergence and cyclonic vorticity, high-level wind divergence and atmospheric precipitable water exceeding 50% are the common features of extreme precipitation anomalies. The individual characteristics are that the anomaly ratio of 500 hPa specific humidity in the zonal type is higher, the anomaly ratio of warm advection in the meridional type is higher, the anomaly ratio of 500 hPa positive vorticity advection and specific humidity in the typhoon and cold trough combined type is higher. Moreover, in the short wave trough with warm shear type, the abnormal physical quantity is more concentrated in the boundary layer, and the abnormal proportion of atmospheric precipitable water is low. In addition, besides paying attention to the degree of abnormal physical quantities, the duration of precipitation is also one of the important factors in extreme precipitation prediction.