Meteorological observations relating to the alleviation of the effect of adverse climatic conditions in arid lands were carried out at the Turpan Desert Research Station, Xinjiang located in the northwestern part of China from 1990 to 1992. It was demonstrated that the use of tamarisk forest windbreaks alleviated the adverse effect of wind velocity, and improved the air temperature, surface soil temperature and relative humidity under very dry conditions. The use of two rows of tamarisk windbreaks resulted in the decrease of the wind velocity and in climatic improvement in comparison with the use of a single row of tamarisk windbreak. It is suggested that forest windbreaks could be very effective for the alleviation of adverse climatic conditions in arid lands.