Expert: It is a relatively rare tornado event, with extreme weather causing 10 deaths in Jiangsu Province | Country | Weather
On September 19th, tornadoes occurred in Suqian and Yancheng, Jiangsu, causing 10 unfortunate deaths.
According to official reports from both places, at around 17:20 on September 19th, strong tornadoes occurred successively in Daxing Town, Suyu District, Suqian City, and Nancai Township, Suqian Economic Development Zone, with a rating of EF2, causing casualties and property damage in some areas. The tornado disaster mainly occurred in towns and villages, with dense personnel and complex building structures. The time of occurrence coincided with work hours. Due to the sudden invasion of the tornado, the disaster caused a total of 5 deaths and 4 serious injuries.
At 20:30 on September 19th, Funing County, Yancheng City was affected by an EF3 tornado and experienced extreme weather disasters. The two towns have been severely affected by the disaster. As of now, the disaster has caused 5 serious injuries, but rescue efforts have been unsuccessful and 4 people have been lightly injured.
Why did these two tornadoes form? According to the news on September 20 of the WeChat official account "Jiangsu Meteorology", meteorological experts said that, affected by the Jianghuai cyclone, from the afternoon of September 19, Jiangsu Province ushered in a large-scale heavy rainfall and gale weather process from northwest to southeast, which was accompanied by relatively strong tornado and severe convection weather. There was a large-scale heavy rainfall in Yanhuai and Huaibei regions of Jiangsu, with the maximum rainfall of 236 mm, in Goudun Town of Funing. In addition to precipitation, there were also large-scale strong convective weather on September 19th, including thunderstorms, strong winds, and tornadoes.
On September 19th, Jiangsu was affected by two tornadoes. The first tornado occurred in Suqian, between 17:00 and 18:00 on September 19th. An EF2 level tornado occurred in Suqian's Economic and Technological Development Zone and Daxing Town; Another tornado occurred in Funing, Yancheng, from 20:16 to 35:00 on the 19th, with the impact of a tornado occurring from west to east. Its intensity reached a strong tornado level of EF3. The maximum wind force detected on the 19th also occurred in Tongying Village, Lupu Town, Funing, Yancheng. At 20:23, gusts of 41.8 meters per second were detected, reaching level 14. However, the maximum wind force at the center of the tornado may be stronger than this.
The meteorological expert said that usually in mid to late September, it is not easy for Jiangsu to experience tornadoes, but recently, due to high temperatures and the influence of the Jianghuai cyclone, it has brought strong dynamic conditions. Against this backdrop, a relatively rare tornado event occurred in Jiangsu on September 19th.
Public information shows that tornadoes are the most violent small-scale eddies in the Earth's atmosphere, with central wind speeds exceeding 100m/s. Due to its strong suddenness, short duration, and fast movement speed, the strong ground winds generated can cause significant casualties and property damage in a short period of time, with great destructive power. China is a country with severe tornado impacts, with strong tornadoes mainly concentrated in densely populated and flat areas such as the Jianghuai region, the Two Lakes Plain, South China, Northeast China, and the southeastern part of North China.
According to information previously released by China Weather Network, spring and summer are the seasons with more tornadoes in China. From April to August, the number of tornadoes accounted for 92% of the year, with July accounting for the highest proportion, about 30%. On average, there are 38 tornadoes in our country every year. There were relatively more 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, Jiangsu, Guangdong, Hubei, Anhui and other provinces have experienced more tornadoes. Jiangsu ranks first with an annual average of 4.8.
Pengpai News noticed that on July 20, 2022, multiple areas in Jiangsu Province were hit by tornadoes. According to the Emergency Management Department of Jiangsu Province, as of 11:00 pm on July 21 of the same year, this disaster caused 4031 people to be affected, 1 person to die, and 37 people to be injured, resulting in a direct economic loss of 68.9686 million yuan. The tornado incident attracted widespread attention from the outside world at that time.
Why are there many tornadoes in Jiangsu? According to Weibo @ China Weather Network on July 21, 2022, Wang Weiyue, a meteorological analyst at China Weather Network, the northern part of Jiangsu Province is located in a transitional zone between subtropical and warm temperate climates, which is prone to the accumulation of unstable energy, which helps to generate tornadoes. Topographically, the north of Jiangsu is low-lying and flat, with Rivers and Lakes intertwined with water networks, without mountain blocks, which is conducive to the spiral structure of tornadoes. According to a report by Xinhua Daily in July 2022, Liu Anning, the chief forecaster of the Jiangsu Provincial Meteorological Observatory, explained that tornadoes mainly occur in the eastern plains and the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River. Jiangsu is a plain with a dense water network, and the climate transitions between the north and south. The intersection of cold and warm air currents can easily cause severe convective weather, including tornadoes. In Jiangsu, one of the high-risk areas for tornadoes is along the coast, while the other is in the Gaoyou Lake area.
According to the news released on September 20, 2023 on the WeChat official account "Jiangsu Meteorology", there were 109 tornadoes in Jiangsu from 1956 to 2015, of which 16, 35, 36 and 14 occurred in June, July, August and September, respectively, with an annual average of 1.5 in summer. In addition, the Lixiahe area in Jiangsu Province, as well as Nantong, Taizhou, Yangzhou, and northern Suzhou, are high-risk areas for tornadoes. The reason why Jiangsu is prone to tornadoes is that the terrain is flat, rivers and lakes are dense, and it is located in the transitional zone between the north and south climates. The cold and warm air currents frequently intersect, making it easy to form strong convective weather, including tornadoes.
