Using NCEP/NCAR daily reanalysis data and SCSMEX data, an investigation is carried out of the relationship between the position variation of the west Pacific subtropical high (WPSH) and the apparent heating in June 1998 based on the complete vertical vorticity equation. It is found that the non-adiabatic heating plays an important role in the position variation of WPSH. In comparison with climatic mean status, the vertical change of non-adiabatic heating is stronger in the north side of WPSH in June 1998, but weaker in the south side of WPSH. The anomalous non-uniform heating induces anomalous cyclonic vorticity in South China, areas to the south of the Yangtze and its mid-lower valleys, but anomalous anticyclonic vorticity in the Indo-China Peninsula and South China Sea areas lead to the more southward position of WPSH than the mean.