Abstract: In order to study the spatial distribution characteristics and temporal variation of autumn precipitation in northwest China and the relationship with wheat yield, EOF and REOF were used to analyze the data of 119 meteorological stations in northwest China from 1961 to 2016. The results showed that there were significant spatial differences in autumn precipitation in northwest China. The minimum was 0.9 mm at Lenghu meteorological station in Qinghai province, and the maximum was 270.0 mm at Shiquan meteorological station in Shaanxi province. Autumn precipitation in northwest China mainly increased in the 1960s, 1970s, 1980s and 2001—2016, while decreased in the 1990s. The autumn precipitation in northwest China could be divided into six climatic zones. The precipitation evolution of each representative station showed that there were many representative stations in Urumqi, Hetian and Golmud, but little others in 1960s and 1970s. The evolution of the third-order curve showed that precipitation of Urumqi decreased after 2005, while other representative stations increased. Precipitation in autumn was positively correlated with wheat yield in the following year.

Key words: northwest region, autumn precipitation, climatic characteristics, wheat yield