Three robust tree-ring density chronologies were developed for the western Tianshan Mountains of northwestern China. The chronologies were significantly correlated and form a regional chronology (GLD). The GLD had significant and positive correlations with temperature of warm seasons. Based on this relationship, the mean minimum temperatures of May to August were reconstructed using the GLD chronology for the period AD 1657 to 2008. The temperature reconstruction exhibited temperature patterns on interannual to centennial timescales, and showed that the end of the 20th century is the warmest period in the past 352 years. The reconstructed temperature variation has a teleconnection with large-scale atmospheric–oceanic variability and captures long- and broad-scale regional climatic variations.
