Recent significant tornadoes in China

Compared with the United States, whose annual number of tornadoes can exceed 1000, the average number of tornadoes per year in China over the past half a century is estimated to be fewer than 100 (Fan and Yu, 2015), even though both countries are located in a similar latitudinal zone of the Northern Hemisphere. The annual average recorded number of F1 (Fujita scale) or EF1 (enhanced Fujita scale) intensity or higher tornadoes in China between 1961 and 2010 is about 21 (Fan and Yu, 2015), while that in the United States is 495 between 1954 and 2013 (Brooks et al., 2014). The number of the most intense tornadoes are even more rare in China. In fact, only five tornadoes of EF4 intensity have been recorded between 1950 and 2010, and none at F5 or EF5 intensity has been recorded. Still, when tornadoes do occur, they tend to cause extensive damage and loss of life, partly because of the dense population in the coastal regions where tornadoes occur most often. The unpreparedness of most people combined with the lack of tornado-protection facilities also plays a role. Over the 50 years starting from 1961, at least 1772 people died because of tornadoes (Fan and Yu, 2015). However, owing to their relative rarity, tornado forecasting and warnings have not been part of the operational weather forecasting requirements within China, although experimental tornado forecasting and warning operations have just begun in several provinces after a number of recent significant tornadoes. Jiangsu Province in eastern China experiences by far the largest number of significant tornadoes (EF2 or greater) in China. Over the 50 years between 1961 and 2010, there were 36 of them on record in Jiangsu, while the next six provinces (including an autonomous city) featuring more than 10 occurrences were Hubei (15), Hunan (14), Shandong (13), Shanghai (12), Anhui (11) and Guangdong (11). Jiangsu also had eight EF3 or stronger tornadoes, while other provinces had at