Abstract: Using the thunderstorm observation data from 1961 to 2012 from 59 meteorological stations in Liaoning province and the NCEP/NCAR (National Center for Environmental Prediction/National Center for Atmospheric Research) daily reanalysis data,the characteristics of thunderstorm activities and atmospheric circulation for inland and coastal cities were compared and analyzed based on the climate trend analysis and the synthesis of t-test methods.The results show that the annual mean number of thunderstorm days for inland cities decreases gradually from the east and the west mountain areas to the central hill and plain areas.The annual mean number of thunderstorm days for coastal cities decreases with the decreasing of latitudes and is generally less than that for inland cities.The annual mean number of thunderstorm days for inland and coastal cities both shows a decreasing trend with a time of year,and the decreasing speed for coastal cities is faster than that for inland cities.The thunderstorm activities for inland cities are related to the near-surface air temperature,Asian zonal and meridional circulations,and those for coastal cities are closely related to the wind and height fields at the lower and middle troposphere,and its inter-annual variation of thunderstorm activities is closely related to the ridge line location of the Western Pacific subtropical high.