Differences in tornado activities and key tornadic environments between China and the United States

Abstract

The yearly tornado occurrence in China is approximately 5–10% of that in the United States, and the peak month of tornado occurrence in China is July, while that in the United States is May. However, the two countries have nearly the same land area and similar latitudinal location. This study attempts to disclose the differences in the key tornadic environments that are most possibly responsible for the large discrepancy of tornado occurrences observed between the two countries. The region with the highest tornado density in China (JS) is compared with three similarly sized regions in the United States, including two tornado‐prone regions (UC and USE1) and one region similar to JS (USE2). The results show that JS has a much lower tornado frequency than UC and USE1, mainly due to JS's much lower likelihood of multiple tornadoes occurring in a short period during its tornado season. Compared with UC and USE1, JS features relatively low mean values of the significant tornado parameter (STP) during their respective tornado seasons. The STP, incorporating several tornado‐related variables, was found to show a monotonic relationship with the total tornado count at a seasonal scale and perform well to explain monthly variations in tornado frequencies. Compared with the target regions in the United States, JS has a similar magnitude and decreasing trend of the 0–6‐km vertical wind shear from spring to summer, but a later increase in instability. Resulting from a balance between the decreasing vertical shear and the increasing thermodynamic instability, JS features a delayed monthly peak of STP and thus a delayed tornado season, which makes JS having a worse kinematic environment for tornadogenesis with far lower low‐level vertical wind shear during its tornado season than that of the United States.

A 10-Year Statistic Study on the Tornadoes That Occurred in Jiangsu and Zhejiang Province: Composite Background Environment and Linear Trends

“…Another key feature for the horizontal distribution of tornadoes in China is that, they tended to appear over the regions with relatively low altitude and flat surface. This may be an important reason for the notable contrast on the tornadoes' frequencies in China and the USA [10]. As Figure 1b shows, for the tornadoes within Jiangsu, more events tended to occur in the central section; whereas for those within Zhejiang, more tornadoes tended to appear in the northern section, where the surface was more flat than other sections of Zhejiang.…”

“…According to statistics, the United States of American suffered frequent and intense tornadic activities during the warm seasons [3][4][5]. Compared to that, occurrence frequency and intensity of the tornadoes in China were much lower [6][7][8][9][10]. However, due to the high population density and relatively low meteorological early warning capability [11], the tornadoes often caused serious casualties in China [12,13].…”

“…As tornadoes appeared in these two provinces frequently caused severe economic losses and serious casualties, it is necessary to conduct detailed investigations on them. Statistical features are vital to understand the tornadoes [8][9][10]. Since their horizontal scales are really small [11,12,16], statistical analyses were mainly focused on tornadoes' background environment.…”

Blockchain for Internet of Underwater Things: State-of-the-Art, Applications, Challenges, and Future Directions

“…Marine life consists of numerous plants, animals, and other living organisms [1]. The climatic patterns in water bodies often influences severe weather patterns such as cyclones, typhoons, tornadoes, tsunamis, and others [2][3][4]. Marine transportation plays a significant role in the supply chain management of essential goods such as oil, food, minerals, metals, and more [5].…”