Abstract:The main characteristics of the general atmospheric circulation in December 2023 are as follows. There were several polar vortex centers in the Northern Hemisphere. The atmospheric circulation presented a great meridionality in mid-latitudes in Eurasia. The East Asian trough was stronger, and the subtropical high ridge in the Western Pacific Ocean was also abnormally stronger this month. The monthly mean precipitation (12.2 mm) over China was 2.5% more than normal (11.9 mm), and the monthly average temperature was -2.6℃, which is 0.4℃ above that in the same period of normal years. Totally, there were six cold air processes, one sand-dust weather process and one large-scale fog-haze event reported this month. In particular, the 13-16 December intense cold wave that was encountered in most parts of China heavily was featured with wide influence range, large cooling range and remarkable low temperature extremes.