Abstract:An extreme heavy precipitation event occurred in North China from July 18 to 22, 2016, in which the precipitation was concentrated on July 19 and 20 and reached the strongest on 20. Based on NCEP/NCAR reanalysis and datasets of daily basic meteorological elements from China national meteorological stations,the precipitation characteristics, Rossby wave activity and energy changes of this event are investigated.This precipitation lasted for five days and the rain belt is in the direction of southwest to northeast. Results show that atmospheric conditions in North China are dominated by an anomalous cyclonic circulation in the middle and lower troposphere and an anomalous anticyclonic circulation in the upper troposphere, and the water vapor mainly originates from the Bay of Bengal and the South China Sea during the period of extreme heavy precipitation. Meanwhile, the wave disturbance energy in the lower troposphere mainly propagates in the meridional direction, while in the upper troposphere it propagates in the zonal direction.The influence of wave disturbance energy in the lower troposphere in North China is more effective than that in the upper troposphere.The enhancement and maintenance of eddy kinetic energy in North China are mainly due to the divergence of non-geostrophic eddy geopotential flux, the baroclinic conversion of energy from eddy effective potential energy to eddy kinetic energy, the dissipation caused by turbulence friction and other residuals. As a result, the vortex kinetic energy enhanced on 19, maintained on 20, and then weakened. The variation of eddy heat flux indicates that warm moist air is transported to the north in the low layer whereas dry cold air is transported to the south in the high layer, which consistent with the conversion between barotropic and baroclinic. Meanwhile, the variation of eddy momentum flux over the North China enhances the eddy dynamic energy in the basic airflow.