Abstract:Based on the rainfall, snow, ground temperature monthly observation data from 740 stations and NCEP/NCAR reanalysis monthly data from 1979 to 2008, the relationship between winter snow anomaly in Tibetan Plateau (TP) and summer rainfall in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River (MLYR) as well as its possible influencing mechnism are investigated with correlation, composition and maximum covariance analysis methods. The results show as follows: (1) For the interannual time scale, a significant positive correlation exists between snow index during Dec-Jan in the central and northern TP and summer rainfall in the MLYR, whose spatial distribution in Dec-Jan is different. For the interdecadal time scale, snow index from 1900s to 2000s in TP has the in-phase variation characteristics with summer precipitation in the MLYR, Which means snow index in Dec-Jan in the central and northern TP is an important indicator to the summer precipitation anomaly(SPA) and the basis for the interannual variation of summer rainfall in the MLYR. (2) Snow index anomaly(SIA) in Dec-Jan in TP and SPA in the MLYR are in a good consistency, which means the positive SIA in Dec-Jan in the central and northern TP reveals the summer floods in the MLYR quite well but it is poor for the droughts. (3) The possible way, in which SIA in Dec-Jan in the TP affects SPA in the MLYR, is that snow abnormal signal first influences soil surface temperature in subsequent 2-3 months through heat exchange and maintains the effect under the soil in some way until next summer, so as to impacts the weather and climate in downstream of TP.