Objective By analyzing the variation characteristics of climate resources during tea growing season in southern Anhui under the background of climate warming, the study aimed to provide a scientific basis for the rational use of climate resources and response to climate change during tea production in southern Anhui.

Method Based on the data including daily average temperature, sunshine hours, precipitation and relative humidity from 19 meteorological stations in southern Anhui during 1971-2019, the study analyzed the variation characteristics of climate resources including heat, light and precipitation during the tea growing season as well as the tea harvesting period in mountain areas of southern Anhui.

Result The heat resource during the growth of tea increased obviously in mountain areas of southern Anhui in recent 50 years, in which the annual average temperature, the accumulated temperature above 10℃, and the number of suitable days for tea growth increased per 10 years by 0.29℃, 111.7℃ and 2.7 d, respectively. The light resource decreased significantly, and the decreasing range of annual sunshine hours was 57.5 h per 10 yaers. The variation of precipitation resources varied among the precipitation and relative humidity, the former increased insignificantly by 13.7mm per 10 yaers, and the latter decreased significantly by 0.5% per 10 yaers.

Conclusion Due to the climate warming, the harvesting periods of early and middle-late growing tea was significantly advanced by 4.2 d and 3.6 d per 10 yaers, respectively. The changes of temperature and precipitation caused by climate warming have a great impact on yield per mu of tea in mountain areas of southern Anhui.