Based on the daily precipitation data collected from 50 meteorological stations in South China

the temporal and spatial variations and abnormal distributions of extreme precipitation events defined by the modified percentile method in the early rainy season (ERS) and the late rainy season (LRS) of South China from 1961 to 2014 were analyzed and possible reasons of differences were discussed by using morelet wavelet analysis and SVD method. The results indicate that the extreme precipitation indexes of ERS and LRS during recent 54 years have a significant interannual variation with 3-5 years and 6-8 years periods

respectively

and showing a trend of slight increase. The distributions of extreme precipitation index are also significantly different between ERS and LRS. The maximum anomalies of ERS are mainly in the northeast Guangxi and central part of Guangdong

but those of LRS are near the coastal areas. The possible reasons for the differences between ERS and LRS are as follows: ① The atmospheric circulation and SST anomalies in the preceding winter can be considered as important factors of the extreme precipitation events in ERS of South China. Due to the onset of summer monsoon

the strong southwesterlies carrying warm and wet air from the South China Sea merge with the north cold air at the northcentral region of south China

and convection becomes stronger

which is more prone to heavy precipitation. The increase of SST in tropical Pacific

especially over the central eastern Pacific

creates a favorable condition for extreme precipitation in ERS. ② The extreme precipitation in LRS shows no obvious relationship with atmospheric circulation features. The warmer local SST and stronger convection are helpful for tropical cyclones to move westward

which increases extreme precipitation in the coastal areas of South China.