Based on our previous study, the interdecadal changes in summer rainfall over East China in the late 1990s are further explored here. The increased local rising motion is implicated as the dominant factor of increased rainfall in the lower Huang‐Huai River valley (LHR). Both the observation and numerical experiments using Community Atmosphere Model, version 4 suggest that the negative Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO) mode can result in rising anomalies and thus more rainfall in the LHR. The East Asian westerly jet stream (EAWJS) is suggested as a bridge to link the Pacific sea surface temperature anomalies and East Asian summer rainfall. Model results reveal that the negative PDO mode can lead to significant easterly anomalies over East Asia. As a result, the EAWJS is weakened and shifts poleward, which coincides with observed changes in EAWJS after the late 1990s. In addition, weakened and poleward shifted EAWJS can result in an anomalous ascending motion to its south (in the LHR) by modulating the jet‐related secondary meridional‐vertical circulation. Consequently, rainfall increased in the LHR after the late 1990s. Besides, the positive Atlantic Meridional Oscillation can only induce insignificant changes over East Asia and partly counteract the negative PDO effect there.

Although the impact of El Niño–Southern Oscillation on the Tibetan Plateau (TP) is reflected through stable isotopes of precipitation and ice cores, the hydroclimate response of TP lakes to El Niño–Southern Oscillation is seldom investigated. Here we show that significant lake water deficit occurred on the central TP (CTP) due to a dramatic decrease in precipitation 2016 El Ni/2016 El Niño event, followed by extreme lake water surplus in 2016 and 2017 over most of the TP (except the eastern CTP). Similar but weaker lake shrinkage and afterward expansion can also be found during historical El Niño events. Further exploration reveals that the CTP dry anomaly during El Niño events tends to bridge the dry anomalies over India and northern China, thereby forming a dry zone along the northwestern edge of the Asian monsoon domain. This study may shed light on the prediction of lake level changes on the TP.

This study explored the interannual relationship between autumn Arctic sea ice concentration (SIC) and the subsequent summer precipitation over East Asia (EASP). Since the late‐1990s, the declining SIC in the Kara–Laptev Seas has been significantly correlated with EASP as well as extremely positive anomalies in northern China and intensely negative anomalies in central‐eastern East Asia. However, there was a weak correlation between autumn SIC and EASP before the late‐1990s. Furthermore, the anomalous precipitation pattern in summer and its connection with autumn SIC variability can be explained by the seasonal persistence of continental processes (snow depth and soil moisture) into the spring. In particular, a decreasing SIC was connected with simultaneously positive and negative precipitation anomalies over northeastern China and the Siberian region, respectively, since the late‐1990s and tends to produce corresponding soil moisture anomalies over the Eurasian continent. Declining SIC also favours increased snow depth anomalies in winter over northeastern East Asia. These anomalous signals of surface processes can persist from winter into the subsequent spring, making the connection between the autumn SIC and EASP possible. The Community Earth System Model Large Ensemble simulations further verified these physical processes. More detailed mechanism for this relationship needs to be stressed in further work by numerical simulations. The results have important implications for extending the seasonal prediction validity of EASP. Moreover, before the late‐1990s, SIC‐related circulation anomalies shifted westward and northward as negative precipitation anomalies developed over west Siberia in autumn. As a result, anomalous dry soil conditions in Siberia persisted into the subsequent spring and then led to wetter‐than‐normal conditions through locally negative soil moisture–precipitation feedback before the late‐1990s.