Abstract: The impact of cold waves on the residual sea level in adjacent waters near Zhejiang cannot be ignored. This study focuses on the patterns of residual sea level change and associated mechanisms during strong cold wave events, aiming to provide insights into how the cold waves affect coastal and estuary processes and to provide theoretical support for marine disaster prevention and mitigation. A high-resolution numerical model is developed with ROMS for the Bohai Sea, Yellow Sea, and East China Sea with mesh refinement in Zhoushan Islands area. The model is employed to study the sea level response to a typical cold wave event in Zhejiang adjacent seas during January 2016. By analyzing harmonic constants of multiple tidal stations and measured sea level data, the best combination of wind field data, wind stress drag coefficient, and bottom friction coefficient for the study area is determined through sensitivity numerical experiments. The simulation results well capture the changes of residual sea level during the cold wave events, which are verified with observational data from coastal tidal gauges. The study revealed spatial variation patterns of residual sea levels in Zhejiang adjacent seas. Under the influence of cold waves, the amplitude of variation reaches up to 0.6 meters from the Hangzhou Bay to Zhoushan Islands. The spatiotemporal distribution of residual sea level during the cold wave transit period is significantly influenced by cold wave wind speed, wind direction, and the complex terrain along the Zhejiang coast. The change in residual sea level lags that in cold wave wind speed by approximately 1 day. Significant spatial variability is observed in the response of residual sea level to cold wave winds. Sea level fluctuations off Taizhou and Wenzhou show a positive correlation with the cold wave wind speed with correlation coefficients exceeding 0.65. In contrast, in the Hangzhou Bay it exhibits a negative correlation between wind speed and residual sea level with correlation coefficients ranging from 0.53 to 0.65. Near the Zhoushan Islands, complex correlations between wind speed and residual sea level are also noted. The variation in residual sea level near the coast of Zhejiang Province is attributed to two main factors, the Ekman transport induced by wind stress and the Kelvin waves triggered by the weakening of northerly winds.