Abstract: Based on the monthly precipitation data of 96 meteorological stations from 1961 to 2015 in the Dongting Lake Basin and monthly mean reanalysis dataset from NCEP/NCAR,  we analyzed spatialtemporal variation characteristics of winter precipitation in recent 54 years in Dongting Lake Basin and the feature of atmospheric circulation and water  vapor transport during typical winter flood/drought years. We also discussed the relationships between annual winter precipitation and synchronized Eurasian Circulation Index (EUCI), precipitable water, water vapor flux divergence. The results showed that, winter precipitation in the Dongting Lake Basin exhibits remarkable interannual and inter decadal variation characteristics in the past 54 years, for concrete manifestation, there were less rainfall in 1960s and 1970s, more rainfall from 1980s to late 1990s, winter  precipitation exhibits fluctuant decreasing trend after entering 21 century. In addition, winter mean precipitation and standard deviation of winter precipitation in the  Dongting Lake Basin both exhibit decreasing spatial distribution characteristics from south to north, east to west. In terms of the feature of atmospheric circulation and water  vapor transport, spatial distribution are roughly opposite during typical winter flood years and typical winter drought years. the results showed that anomalous winter  precipitation in the Dongting Lake Basin are closely associated with largescale circulation situation anomaly. By respectively calculating correlation coefficient between  annual precipitable water, water vapor flux divergence, Eurasian Circulation Index and winter precipitation in the Dongting Lake Basin, we found that there are fairly good  relationships between them, correlation coefficient are respectively 0.43, -0.68, -0.53, and all are significant above the 0.01 significance level.
Key words：Dongting Lake Basin; winter precipitation; atmospheric circulation; water vapor transport