A July–May precipitation reconstruction for the period AD 1816–2010 was developed from a tree‐ring width chronology of Picea wilsonii for the Xinglong Mountains area of Lanzhou. The reconstruction explains 55.8% of the actual precipitation variance during the calibration period from 1951 to 2010. Wet conditions prevailed during the periods 1822–1835, 1843–1858, 1870–1877, 1884–1891, 1911–1921, 1933–1938, 1944–1979 and 2009–201...