Abstract:In February 2026, the Northern Hemisphere polar vortex exhibited a dipole pattern, with its primary center located over northern Canada and a secondary center over the region from Novaya Zemlya to the Sea of Okhotsk in the Eastern Hemisphere. Most mid-to-high latitude areas of China were situated in the front of high pressure ridge, where geopotential heights were dominated by positive anomalies. The main body of cold air activity was relatively weak, resulting in above-normal temperatures in most parts of China. The national average temperature was 2.1℃ higher than the corresponding climatological normal, ranking the third highest for February since 1961. The position and intensity of the southern branch trough this month were close to normal. With the phased cold air activities in northern China, warm and cold air masses converged frequently over northern China, leading to numerous rain and snow events in the northern regions. Four notable precipitation processes occurred nationwide in February, with uneven spatial distribution. Precipitation was above normal in southern North China, Huanghuai Region, south-eastern Northwest China, northern Xinjiang, northeastern Inner Mongolia and northern Northeast China, while below-normal precipitation was observed across most other areas. In addition, two cold wave events, two sand-dust events and five heavy fog events successively affected China in this month. Among them, the sand-dust event from 20 to 23 was the most extensive and intense dust weather process, and the rain and snow event from 25 to 27 was the heaviest and most extensive precipitation process in February