The extreme windstorm of April 2025 in northern and central-eastern China : historical ranking and synoptic origins

Abstract

In mid-April 2025, northern and central-eastern China experienced a catastrophic compound disaster marked by Beaufort 8 or greater wind gusts affecting ∼3.5 × 106 km2, exposing ∼610 million residents to extreme conditions, with Typhoon-equivalent Beaufort 12 gusts battering Beijing’s Yanshan Mountains and Beaufort 14–15 winds devastating Inner Mongolia. This unprecedented event surpassed historical extremes at 64 weather stations, impacting 996 monitoring sites with winds exceeding the 99th percentile, including 478 stations recording historic top-three maxima. Concurrently, sandstorms engulfed ∼4.3 × 106 km2, reaching 18°N, while Hulunbuir faced a 1.5-m snowpack—a 30-year April record. Cascading infrastructure failures resulted in 1884 uprooted trees, approximately ¥16.6 million in urban damages (in Beijing), and the collapse of utility-scale photovoltaic systems across northern China and the Huang-Huai region, exacerbating the multi-faceted crisis. A brief analysis indicates the event was primarily driven by a vertically coupled cyclone system featuring a cold vortex at the middle and upper troposphere dynamically aligned with a lower-level cyclone/mesoscale vortex. The intense, deeply coupled cyclone system sustained the wind intensification primarily through its enhanced pressure gradient force and subsidence-induced downward transport of kinetic energy (KE) behind the cyclone’s core. Clarifying the controlling synoptic-scale weather systems and dominant physical mechanisms governing such extreme wind generation is critical for refining predictive models of these high-impact events while advancing the understanding of dynamic interactions within extreme wind regimes. 2025年4月中旬, 中国北部和中东部地区遭遇由8级以上阵风引发的复合型灾害, 影响范围约3.5 × 10⁶平方公里, 波及约6.1亿人口. 北京燕山山脉出现12级 (台风级) 阵风, 内蒙古局部地区风力达14–15级. 此次事件在64个气象站突破历史极值, 996个监测站点风速超过第99百分位 (478个站点创观测史前三极值) . 伴随沙尘暴影响范围达4.3 × 10⁶平方公里, 南扩至18°N; 呼伦贝尔出现1.5米积雪, 为30年来4月最深纪录. 灾害导致1884株树木倒伏, 北京城市设施损失约1660万元, 并造成华北, 黄淮地区光伏系统大面积损毁. 研究表明, 该事件由垂直耦合气旋系统驱动, 中高层冷涡与低层气旋/中尺度涡旋动力耦合, 通过增强气压梯度及下沉动能传输维持强风. 阐明此类极端风的天气系统及物理机制, 对改进预测模型及深化风场动力学认知具有重要意义. Graphical abstract: [Figure not available: see fulltext.]