The poleward migration of tropical cyclone (TC) activity in recent years has been linked to the expansion of the Hadley circulation (HC). Here, we investigate the impact of the winter regional HC over western Pacific (WPHC) on the frequency of following summer landfalling TC (LTC) in China. Results show that interannual variation of the LTC frequency has a very close connection with the northern WPHC edge (WPHCE). After removing the El Niño-Southern Oscillation signal, there still exists a significant correlation between them. When the winter WPHCE shifts poleward, the associated lower-level southwesterly (easterly) wind anomalies over the subtropical western Pacific (tropical central-eastern Pacific) induce sea surface temperature (SST) warming (cooling) anomalies therein via suppressing (enhancing) upward surface heat flux. In turn, the SST warming (cooling) excites an anomalous cyclonic (anticyclonic) circulation to its west via a Rossby wave response, thus maintaining the southwesterly (easterly) wind anomalies. In addition, the negative rainfall anomalies over the tropical central-eastern Pacific induced by negative SST anomalies can stimulate an anomalous intensive Walker circulation with anomalous upward motion around the tropical western Pacific. Through this positive air-sea interaction, the winter WPHCE signal would be preserved in the ocean and maintained to the succeeding summer, then favoring LTC genesis landward by decreasing the vertical wind shear and increasing the low-level vorticity and mid-level humidity. Meanwhile, anomalous mid-tropospheric easterly winds over the subtropics are favorable for steering more LTCs toward the China's coast. This study suggests that the winter WPHCE variation is a potential predictor for the prediction of the following summer LTC activity over China.

Regional Hadley circulation; Tropical cyclones; Air-sea interaction; Interannual variability