Increasing Risk of a “hot Eastern‐Pluvial Western” Asia

AbstractObservations have revealed that the deadly “hot eastern‐pluvial western” climate pattern in Asia in summer 2022 is by no means an exception. In recent decade this pattern is becoming much more frequent owing to the notable westward extension and enhancement of the western Pacific subtropical high (WPSH). The anomalously enhanced WPSH fills the gap in geopotential heights between the Arabian Sea‐Iranian Plateau and the western Pacific, produces a heat dome over eastern Asia and intensifies the moisture convergence over western Asia by changing the water vapor transportation path. Projections of 19 CMIP6 models show that both the temperature in eastern Asia and precipitation in western Asia will remarkably increase under Shared Socioeconomic Pathway (SSP) 2‐4.5, SSP 3‐7.0, and SSP 5‐8.5 scenarios, with temperature anomalies 0.8°C, 1.5°C, and 2.4°C higher and the percentages of precipitation anomaly 6.3%, 9.4%, and 12.5% larger than the reference period in the near, middle, and long terms under the moderate emission scenario (SSP2‐4.5). Therefore, the “hot eastern‐pluvial western” Asia is becoming a new normal and exacerbating the risk of compound disasters.