What weather system is the cold wave?

The weather system that forms the cold wave is the cold front. Cold wave is a natural weather phenomenon, which means that cold air, like tides, invades the middle and low latitudes from the polar regions or cold zones on a large scale in winter. When a cold wave strikes, the temperature will drop sharply, accompanied by strong winds, rain and snow.

There are three main paths for the cold wave to invade China:

(1) West Road: It enters Xinjiang, China from the west of Siberia and advances to the southeast via Hexi Corridor;

(2) Middle Road: After entering China from central Siberia and Mongolia, it passes through Hetao area and south-central China;

(3) East Road: it enters the northeast of China from eastern Siberia or eastern Mongolia and goes south through North China;

(4) East Road plus West Road: East Road cold air flows south from the lower reaches of Hetao, and West Road cold air flows south from the southeast of Qinghai. Two cold air often meet on the east side of the Loess Plateau, between the Yellow River and the Yangtze River, causing a wide range of rain and snow, and then the two cold air meet south, causing strong winds and obvious cooling.

The outbreak of cold wave has different characteristics in different regional environments: in the northwest desert and loess plateau, there is less wind and snow, which is easy to lead to sandstorm weather; In Inner Mongolia grassland, it is windy, snowy and cold weather; In North China and Huanghuai areas, cold waves are often accompanied by snow. In the northeast, it is characterized by more violent winds and more snow, and the snowfall is the highest in the country; Jiangnan is often accompanied by freezing rain.