East Asian rainy season

Plum rain falling on two clear umbrellas, looking up toward the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building, in June 2009.
East Asian rainy season
Chinese name
Chinese梅雨
Literal meaningplum rain
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu Pinyinméiyǔ
Bopomofoㄇㄟˊㄩˇ
IPAměiɥỳ
Hakka
Romanizationmòi-yí
Yue: Cantonese
Jyutpingmui4 jyu5
IPAmu̖ːy̯jy̗ː
Southern Min
Hokkien POJmûi-ú / bôe-í
Korean name
Hangul장마
Hanja長마
Transcriptions
Revised Romanizationjangma
McCune–Reischauerchangma
Japanese name
Kanji梅雨
Kanaつゆ / ばいう
Hiraganaつゆ / ばいう
Katakanaツユ / バイウ
Transcriptions
Revised Hepburntsuyu / baiu
Kunrei-shikituyu / baiu
Russian name
RussianВосточно-азиатский сезон дождей

The East Asian rainy season (Chinese and Japanese: 梅雨; pinyin: méiyǔ; rōmaji: tsuyu/baiu; Korean: 장마; romaja: jangma), also called the plum rain, is caused by precipitation along a persistent stationary front known as the Meiyu front for nearly two months during the late spring and early summer in East Asia between China, Taiwan, Korea and Japan. The wet season ends during the summer when the subtropical ridge becomes strong enough to push this front north of the region. These weather systems can produce heavy rainfall and flooding.