Abstract:Based on the daily and hourly precipitation data of 2341 meteorological observation stations from 1961 to 2016, this paper analyzed the precipitation extreme features in China in the 2016 flood season and also did comparison with the situation in 1998. The main results are as follows. The average precipitation in 2016 is the most since 1961, and the accumulated rainfall of 140 stations exceeded historical records, with 112 stations having the second historical maximum values. These stations are 54 and 47 more respectively than the stations in 1998. The extreme precipitation in 1998 mainly occurred in Northeast China and the middle and upper reaches of the Yangtze River, but in 2016 it occurred mainly in East China and was more concentrated. Totally, 6972 stations had torrential rains, of which extremely heavy rains occurred at 1251 stations, which are the most since 1961. The large scale torrential rains happened 44 times, lasting for 90 days and showing the characteristics of being intense in middle, and weak before and after the torrential rain processes. There were extreme events of daily precipitation at 417 stations, of which 88 stations broke the historic records. The hourly maximum precipitation at 113 stations broke the historical records, with 29 stations more than in 1998. The spatial distribution of daily precipitation extremes was mainly in East China and North China in 2016, but in central China in 1998. The hourly record precipitation was mainly in western China in 2016, while it concentrated in eastern China in 1998.