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Destructive tornado outbreak hits Jiangsu Province, China

jiangsu tornado outbreak damage july 20 2022

A severe weather outbreak hit China’s Jiangsu Province on July 20, 2022, producing at least 5 tornadoes and leaving significant damage. The number of confirmed tornadoes is expected to rise as more information comes in.

A violent killer tornado hit Xiangshui, Yancheng City during the afternoon hours (LT), completely destroying brick houses, downing high tension towers, and tangling motorcycles around trees.

“Unfortunately, we’ve heard injuries and fatalities,” said Eric Wang, Chinese extreme weather enthusiast.

The Jiangsu weather bureau rated it as an EF-3 . This tornado was spawned by the same parent supercell as the Guannan tornado, which damaged/destroyed more than 650 homes.

Another powerful tornado today was the one near Guanyun, Jiangsu Province.

“Though haven’t been rated yet, this one threw nearly 100 motorcycles away and scattered them all across the field, one of the motorcycles was mangled and wrapped around a tree,” Wang said.

According to Global Times, the tornado in Guanyun County blew through 11 villages, killing at least 1 person and injuring 25 others. Homes and property of more than 2 000 people were damaged.

Total damage was estimated at around 65 million yuan ($9.6 million).1

During the late spring and early summer, a semi-permanent frontal boundary – known locally as mei-yu or baiu front (plum rains) – emerges across eastern China, Taiwan, and Japan, leading to prolonged periods of heavy rain and thunderstorms which frequently cause damage.

The front stretches from the Tibetan Plateau to Japan along a confluent jet stream that separates Arctic circulation to the north from tropical circulation to the south.

Along this boundary, mesoscale convective complexes (MCCs) or mesoscale convective systems (MCSs) tend to form and propagate eastward, giving a series of heavy downpours.2

References:

1 Tornado kills 1 in eastern China as country faces high temps – AP – July 21, 2022

2 Mei-yu front – AMS – Accessed July 20, 2022

Featured image credit: Eric Wang

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