LAUSR

Tibetan Plateau vortices (TPVs) are important rainfall triggers in southwestern and eastern China after they move off the plateau. Characteristics of the moving‐off TPVs derived from two gridded data sets, the final operational global analysis data from the Global Forecasting System of National Centers for Environment Prediction (NCEP‐FNL) and the ERA‐interim data from the European Centre for Medium‐Range Weather Forecasts, are evaluated against the Yearbooks of Tibetan Plateau Vortex and Shear Line (YB). Generally, NCEP‐FNL captures more moving‐off TPVs in YB than ERA‐interim does. Both gridded data sets perform the best in capturing the TPVs in YB in May and the worst in July. Zonal propagation distances of TPVs are apparently better revealed in NCEP‐FNL than in ERA‐interim, and the performances of NCEP‐FNL and ERA‐interim in showing the meridional propagation distances and lifespans are similar. Positional deviations of TPVs in NCEP‐FNL and ERA‐interim reveal that both data sets show good skills in presenting the TPVs locations, and NCEP‐FNL generally performs better than ERA‐interim. In both gridded data sets, positional deviations of TPVs are larger before the TPVs move off the plateau than after moving off, and zonal deviations are always larger than meridional deviations. Before the TPVs move off, NCEP‐FNL shows no specific preference for the directions of positional deviations, whereas ERA‐interim tends to present further west TPVs locations relative to those in YB. After the TPVs move off, TPVs in both gridded data sets are always observed to the west and north of the TPVs in YB, which is more significant in ERA‐interim.