Abstract

This article reviews advances in severe convective weather research and operational service in China during the past several decades. It emphasizes the synoptic situations favorable for severe convective weather, the major organization modes of severe convective storms, the favorable environmental conditions and the characteristics of weather radar echoes and satellite imageries of severe convective weather, as well as the forecasting and nowcasting techniques of the weather. As a whole, Chinese scientists have profoundly understood synoptic patterns, organizations and evolution characteristics from radar and satellite observations, and mechanisms of different types of convective weather in China. They have studied and have deeply understood multiple types of triggering mechanism for convection, and the environmental conditions, the structures and modes, and the maintenance mechanisms for supercell storms and squall lines. They also have obtained the organization modes and climatological distributions of mesoscale convective systems and different types of convective weather in China, and the multiscale characteristics and formation mechanisms for large hail, tornadoes, downbursts and damaging convective wind gusts based on radar, satellite and lightning observations, and damage survey features. For operational weather forecasting, they have developed various methods and techniques for identifying severe weather and for mesoanalysis. Many different types of nowcasting and forecasting techniques for severe weather forecast such as "ingredients-based" and deep learning have been developed. As a result, the performance of operational severe convective weather forecasts in China has been significantly improved.