According to the Shandong Provincial Emergency Management Department, on July 4, a tornado occurred in Yinan County, Linyi Prefecture, knocking down many trees. Fortunately, no one was injured. However, the next day, July 5, the storm struck again in the same province.
Around 2:30 PM that day, the tornado first appeared in Dongming County, Heze Prefecture. It moved through the county from west to east. According to videos posted by eyewitnesses on social media, the vortex moved quickly, breaking trees, ripping off roofs, and tossing cars. Chaos reigned in the sky and on the ground at that moment.
In Juancheng County and other places in Heze Prefecture, powerful tornadoes also erupted. As of July 6, 83 people were injured by the tornado, and five people died after rescue efforts were unsuccessful. Preliminary inspections revealed that 2,820 local homes were damaged, 60,900 acres of farmland were affected, and 48 power lines were damaged.
The head of the Central Meteorological Observatory, Zhang Tao, commented on the destructive storm: "One of the characteristics of a tornado is that the wind is extremely strong. Even the weakest tornado has a strong ground-level wind that can reach typhoon levels, while a strong tornado far exceeds the wind speed of a super typhoon."
Chinese weather and meteorology analyst Shen Yuyang noted that tornadoes are rare in Shandong Province. According to data from the National Climate Center on the average annual number of tornadoes in each province from 1991 to 2020, Shandong experiences an average of 1.5 tornadoes per year. Overall, these phenomena have also been quite rare in China. For example, Jiangsu observes the highest number of tornadoes per year in China, averaging 4.8 per year, followed by Guangdong with 4.3. In contrast, about 1,000 tornadoes occur annually in the United States.
Shen Yuyang explained that this time, in early July, strong convective weather developed in Shandong, which triggered a number of tornadoes that exceeded the average annual figure several times over.
Comprehensive analysis shows that with rising temperatures and an abundance of water vapor, severe convective weather, such as short-term heavy rainfall, strong winds, thunderstorms, hail, and tornadoes, will intensify in some parts of Northeast, East, and Central China and become more extreme. This fact can no longer be hidden.
Catastrophes are rapidly increasing, and people have less and less time to find a way not only to mitigate weather anomalies but also to eliminate the cause of the wave of climate disasters. There is still an opportunity to do this now. To find out what can save everyone's life, watch the forum "Global Crisis. The Responsibility."