LAUSR

This study investigates the seasonal intensity variabilities of typhoons (TYs) over the western North Pacific that made landfall in the mainland China during the summer (June–August) and autumn (September–November) seasons for the period of 1979–2017. Using the latest climate reanalysis dataset (ERA5), cloud microphysical properties surrounding the rapid intensification (RI) period within the Super TYs (the maximum wind speed exceeding 51 ms−1) are explored to verify whether there exists microphysical precursor in TY intensity change like RI. The major results are: (a) The total number of landfalling TYs in summer is 188, almost two times of the number in autumn, and 25.5% of them can reach the Super TYs category, while 39.5% of the landfalling TYs in autumn became Super TYs with a shorter lifespan. (b) At least half of the summer and autumn cases have undergone the RI before they reached their maximum intensity, and more autumn cases experienced RI as they approached the coastal areas. (c) Snow and rain contents within the vortex exhibit consistent increasing trends during the RI period in both seasons. It is found that ice and snow contents show relatively distinct increase prior to the intensity change during the RI period in autumn cases, while no obvious signal exists in summer. The short‐term microphysical change and the released latent heat may be insufficient in supporting the onset of RI in Super TYs, and the differences of large‐scale environmental conditions between summer and autumn are mostly responsible for the distinct evolutions of intensity and microphysical characteristics in such strong systems.