Abstract The Yangtze‐Huaihe River Basin (YHRB) has witnessed severe heatwaves in summer 2024, characterized by extremely high temperatures during both daytime and nighttime. Based on the daily maximum and minimum temperature data from the China Meteorological Administration, three dominant heatwave periods were identified over YHRB in summer 2024: mixture of compound, independent daytime and independent nighttime heatwaves in July 18–28, and compound and independent daytime heatwaves dominated in August 01–12 and August 21–27. Specifically, the East Asian subtropical jet (EASJ) exhibits significant heterogenous variation during the three periods, and acts as a key atmospheric circulation feature during different heatwave periods. The EASJ shifts northward significantly during three typical periods, inducing downward airflow anomaly over YHRB, beneficial to daytime warming. Meanwhile, the EASJ also exhibits significant cyclonic meandering during July 18–28 and August 01–12, favoring upward air flow and local convection to the north of YHRB, restraining the nighttime cooling and leading to compound heatwave. Our work provides insight into the understanding of the characteristics and mechanisms of compound heatwaves.