Tornados may be most commonly associated with the USA, but recent events are bringing to light the fact that here in Jiangsu, we live in another of the world’s hotspots for cyclones. A look at the historical record also reminds to be wary of the weather.
龙卷风可能最常与美国联系在一起，但最近发生的事件揭示了这样一个事实：在江苏，我们生活在世界上另一个龙卷风热点地区。看看历史记录也提醒人们要警惕天气。
Wednesday, 20 July, saw tornados strike cities in northern Jiangsu Province. In Lianyungang, a storm left one person dead and 26 injured. An economic loss of over ¥15 million was estimated, while 3,148 buildings and 649 households sustained damage, reports The Paper.
7 月 20 日星期三，龙卷风袭击了江苏省北部的城市。连云港遭遇暴风雨，造成1人死亡、26人受伤。据澎湃新闻报道，预计经济损失超过1500万日元，3148栋建筑物和649户家庭遭受损失。
With wind speeds of between 46 and 62 metres per second (165-223 kilometres per hour), yesterday’s storm would rank as EF2 on the Enhanced Fujita scale, whereby a storm causes “considerable damage”. At the top end, an EF5 tornado, with wind speeds of over (320 kilometres per hour), which inflicts “incredible damage”.
由于风速在每秒 46 至 62 米（每小时 165-223 公里）之间，昨天的风暴在增强型藤田等级中被列为 EF2，即风暴会造成“相当大的损失”。在最顶端，EF5级龙卷风的风速超过（每小时320公里），造成了“难以置信的破坏”。
Jiangsu has come close to experiencing the most powerful tornado possible. It was on 23 June, 2016, that an EF4 tornado touched down in eastern Yancheng City.
江苏即将遭遇最强龙卷风。 2016年6月23日，EF4级龙卷风在盐城市东部登陆。
Reaching a maximum width of 4.1 kilometres, the storm levelled or heavily damaged many buildings of a masonry construction along a 34.5 kilometre swathe. Yancheng is a sea port; shipping containers were lifted up by the tornado and thrown hundreds of metres, as were vehicles.
风暴的最大宽度达到了 4.1 公里，沿 34.5 公里的地带夷平或严重损坏了许多砖石建筑。盐城是一个海港；集装箱和车辆都被龙卷风卷起并抛掷数百米。
When it was all over, the cyclone had killed 99 people and injured 846 others, of whom 152 were critically injured. The tornado was declared a national-level disaster and China’s deadliest tornado in almost 40 years.
当一切结束时，飓风已造成 99 人死亡、846 人受伤，其中 152 人伤势严重。这次龙卷风被宣布为国家级灾难，也是中国近 40 年来最致命的龙卷风。
Yancheng is in fact a popular destination for such extreme cyclones. Another of the country’s deadliest occurred in the seaside city on 3 March, 1966, when an EF4 storm killed 74 people.
事实上，盐城是此类极端气旋的热门目的地。 1966 年 3 月 3 日，这座海滨城市发生了该国另一场最严重的死亡事件，当时一场 EF4 风暴造成 74 人死亡。
According to data from the National Climate Centre, there were 38 tornadoes in China on average each year between 1991 and 2020. And topping the list of most frequent tornados is our very own Jiangsu, with an average of 4.8 per year, followed by Guangdong, at 4.3 per year.
根据国家气候中心的数据，1991年至2020年，中国平均每年发生龙卷风38次。其中，龙卷风发生频率最高的是江苏，平均每年4.8次；其次是广东，每年4.3次。
China’s peak year was 2005, when there were a total of 75 tornados, while the year with the least was 2020, when there were just 13.
中国龙卷风发生次数最多的一年是2005年，共有75次，而最少的一年是2020年，仅有13次。
But wary of such extreme weather we must remain. According to Meng et al. in their research paper, “The Deadliest Tornado (EF4) in the Past 40 Years in China”, published in 2018, “It is important to note that, unlike in the United States and some other countries, there are no specific tornado warning products issued in the severe-weather-alert system in China, which is likely because of the rare occurrence of tornadoes relative to those countries. Instead, the potential for a tornado may be mentioned in a thunderstorm warning, together with the potential for wind gusts, torrential rain, hail, and lightning”.
但我们必须对这种极端天气保持警惕。据孟等人介绍。他们在 2018 年发表的研究论文《过去 40 年中国最致命的龙卷风（EF4）》中指出，“需要注意的是，与美国和其他一些国家不同，中国的恶劣天气警报系统中没有发布具体的龙卷风预警产品，这可能是因为龙卷风相对于这些国家很少发生。相反，雷暴预警中可能会提到龙卷风的可能性，以及可能发生的龙卷风。”狂风、暴雨、冰雹、闪电”。
