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This paper concerns about the episodes of PM25 pollution that frequently occur in China in winter months. The severity of PM2.5 pollution is strongly dependent on the synoptic-scale atmospheric conditions. We combined PM2.5 concentration data and meteorological data with the Hybrid Single Particle Lagrangian Integrated Trajectory model (HYSPLIT4) to investigate the dominant synoptic patterns and their relationships with PM2.5 pollution over the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei (BTH) and Yangtze River Delta (YRD) regions in the winters of 2014–17. The transport of PM2.5 from the BTH to YRD regions was examined by using cluster analysis and HYSPLIT4. It is found that the level of PM2.5 pollution over the BTH region was higher than that over the YRD region. The concentration of PM2.5 in the atmosphere was more closely related to meteorological factors over the BTH region. The episodes of PM2.5 pollution over the BTH region in winter were related to weather patterns such as the rear of a high-pressure system approaching the sea, a high-pressure field, a saddle pressure field, and the leading edge of a cold front. By contrast, PM2.5 pollution episodes in the YRD region in winter were mainly associated with the external transport of cold air, a high-pressure field, and a uniform pressure field. Cluster analysis shows that the trajectories of PM2.5 were significantly different under different weather patterns. PM2.5 would be transported from the BTH to the YRD within 48 h when the PM2.5 pollution episodes were associated with three different kinds of weather patterns: the rear of a high-pressure system approaching the sea, the high-pressure field, and the leading edge of a cold front over the BTH region. This suggests a possible method to predict PM2.5 pollution episodes based on synoptic-scale patterns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the global warming slowdown in the twenty‐first century, a huge discrepancy in regional climate warming has been identified over the main region of the Tibetan Plateau (TP). Compared with the +0.04 °C/decade warming from 1961 to 1999, the warming greatly accelerated for the period 2000–2015 at a rate of +0.30 °C/decade. During the same period, warming in the cold season (November to March) was more pronounced than in the warm season (May to September) over the TP. The results also indicated that the middle‐level cloud (middle cloud) decreased (−0.359%/year), while the high‐level cloud (high cloud) increased (+0.241%/year) over almost all the TP during the cold season. Further analysis showed positive net cloud radiative forcing over the western TP from 2000–2015, that is, a heating effect of clouds, especially in the cold season. Combining the trends of the increase in high cloud and the decrease in middle cloud over most parts of the TP, the decreased albedo effect of middle cloud and the increased longwave greenhouse effect of high cloud may have partially contributed to the sustained warming, especially in the cold season from 2000 to 2015. Meanwhile, the results showed that the warming rate and cloud area fraction changes were significantly amplified with elevation. The analysis based on a model of Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 5 shows that the decreased middle cloud plays more important role than the increased high cloud in modulating the enhanced warming over the TP, especially in the cold season. The percentage of SAT caused by longwave CRF (red bar) and shortwave CRF (blue bar) to total SAT derived from CNRM‐CM5 model of CMIP5 over the TP for cold season in the period of 2000–2005. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]