Ten deaths caused by a tornado in Jiangsu Expert： It is a rare tornado event.
There were tornadoes in Suqian and Yancheng, Jiangsu Province on September 19th, which killed 10 people.
According to the official reports of the two places, at about 17: 20 on September 19th, strong tornadoes occurred in Daxing Town, suyu district, Suqian City, and Nancai Township, Suqian Economic Development Zone, with the grade of EF2, causing casualties and property losses in some areas. The tornado disaster mainly occurred in towns and villages, with dense personnel and complex building structure. The occurrence time coincided with the off-duty time. Due to the sudden attack of the tornado, five people were killed and four were seriously injured.
At 20: 30 on September 19th, Funing County, Yancheng City was affected by an EF3 tornado, and an extreme weather disaster occurred. The two towns were seriously affected. Up to now, five people were seriously injured, died after being rescued, and four people were slightly injured.
Why did these two tornadoes form? According to the news of "Jiangsu Meteorology" on WeChat WeChat official account on September 20th, meteorologists said that due to the influence of Jianghuai cyclone, a large-scale heavy rainfall and windy weather process was ushered in from northwest to southeast in Jiangsu Province from the afternoon of September 19th, which was accompanied by strong tornado and strong convective weather. There was a large-scale heavy precipitation in Yanhuai and Huaibei areas of Jiangsu Province, with the maximum rainfall reaching 236 mm, in Goudun Town, Funing. In addition to precipitation, a wide range of strong convective weather, including thunderstorms and tornadoes, also appeared on September 19th.
On September 19th, Jiangsu was affected by two tornadoes. The first tornado occurred in Suqian, from 17: 00 to 18: 00 on the 19th, and an EF2 tornado occurred in Suqian Economic and Technological Development Zone and Daxing Town. Another tornado occurred in Funing, Yancheng, from 20: 16 to 35: 00 on the 19th. The influence of a tornado occurred from west to east, and its strength reached the level of strong tornado, which was EF3. On the 19th, the biggest wind force was also detected in Tongying Village, Lupu Town, Funing, Yancheng. At 20: 23, a gust of 41.8 meters per second was detected, and the wind reached level 14, but the biggest wind force in the tornado center may be stronger than this.
The meteorologist said that usually, in the middle and late September, it is not easy for Jiangsu to have tornadoes, but recently, due to the high temperature and the influence of the Jianghuai cyclone, it has brought relatively strong dynamic conditions. In this context, a rare tornado event occurred in Jiangsu on September 19th.
According to public information, tornado is the most violent small-scale vortex in the earth’s atmosphere, and its central wind speed can exceed 100 m/s. Because of its suddenness, short duration and fast moving speed, the strong wind on the ground can cause heavy casualties and property losses in a short time, which is extremely destructive. China is a country with serious tornado influence, and the tornado is mainly concentrated in the densely populated and flat areas such as Jianghuai area, the two lakes plain, South China, Northeast China and Southeast China.
According to the information released by China Weather Network, spring and summer are tornado-prone seasons in China, and the number of tornadoes accounts for 92% of the whole year from April to August, with July accounting for the highest proportion, accounting for about 30%. There are an average of 38 tornadoes in China every year. There were relatively many tornadoes from the mid-1990s to the beginning of this century. There were relatively few tornadoes in the early 1990s and from 2006 to 2020. From a national perspective, there are more tornadoes in Jiangsu, Guangdong, Hubei, Anhui and other provinces. Among them, Jiangsu ranks first with an annual average of 4.8.
The Paper noted that on July 20, 2022, many places in Jiangsu Province were hit by tornadoes. According to the Jiangsu Provincial Emergency Management Department, as of 11: 00 on July 21st of the same year, 4,031 people were affected, 1 person was killed and 37 people were injured, resulting in a direct economic loss of 68,968,600 yuan. The tornado incident caused widespread concern at that time.
Why are tornadoes frequent in Jiangsu? According to the news of Weibo @ China Weather Network on July 21st, 2022, Wang Weiyue, a meteorologist of China Weather Network, said that northern Jiangsu is located in the climate transition zone between subtropical zone and warm temperate zone, and it is easy to accumulate unstable energy, which is helpful for the generation of tornadoes. Topographically, the northern part of Jiangsu is low-lying and flat, with rivers and lakes intertwined with water networks, and there is no mountain barrier, which is conducive to the development of the spiral structure of tornadoes. According to Xinhua Daily in July 2022, Liu Anning, chief forecaster of Jiangsu Meteorological Observatory, explained that tornadoes mainly occurred in the eastern plain and the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River. Jiangsu is a plain with dense water networks, and the climate of the north and the south meets, and the intersection of cold and warm air currents is easy to cause strong convective weather, including tornadoes. In Jiangsu, one of the high-incidence places of tornadoes is along the coast, and the other is in gaoyou lake.
Jiangsu 1956— Distribution map of the number of tornadoes every month in 2015. Wechat WeChat official account "Jiangsu Meteorology" map
Factors such as flat terrain, dense rivers and lakes, and being located in the transition zone between north and south climate lead to easy tornado in Jiangsu. Wechat WeChat official account "Jiangsu Meteorology" map
According to the news released on September 20th, 2023 by WeChat WeChat official account "Jiangsu Meteorology", from 1956 to 2015, there were 109 tornadoes in Jiangsu, among which the most tornadoes appeared in June, July, August and September, with 16, 35, 36 and 14 respectively, with an average of 1.5 in summer. In addition, Lixiahe area in Jiangsu province, Nantong, Taizhou Yangzhou and northern Suzhou are the high-incidence areas of tornado. The reason why Jiangsu is prone to tornadoes is that the whole province is flat, with dense rivers and lakes, located in the transitional zone between north and south climate, and the cold and warm air currents frequently meet, which is easy to form strong convective weather including tornadoes.