Comparative Analysis of Near-Storm Environmental Characteristics of Tornadoes in Northern and Southern China Based on Himawari-8 Satellite and ERA5 Data

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

This manuscript presents a valuable climatological analysis of tornadic environments in China, leveraging the synergistic use of high-frequency Himawari-8 satellite observations and ERA5 reanalysis data. The study addresses a significant gap in the literature by systematically comparing the pre-storm environmental evolution between northern and southern China, identifying distinct "dynamically driven" versus "coupled thermodynamic-kinematic" paradigms. The findings have clear operational implications for tornado nowcasting in regions with limited radar coverage.

Comments for author File: Comments.pdf

Comments on the Quality of English Language

1. Language and Presentation

Page 2, Line 62: "tornadogenesis in China occurring heavily in the eastern regions" → "tornadogenesis in China occurring predominantly in the eastern regions."

Page 3, Line 102-103: "There remains an obvious lack of systematic comparative investigations" → "There remains a significant lack of systematic comparative investigations"

Page 6, Line 241: "kinematic-thermodynamic signature" – please ensure consistency with the order of terms throughout the manuscript (preferably match the order used in "thermodynamic-kinematic" elsewhere).

2. Methodology and Data

Page 5, Lines 199: The storm tracking methodology using TBB minima is innovative but requires additional clarification. Please specify how the "storm’s motion direction and translation speed" were derived from consecutive satellite images (e.g., optical flow, manual tracking, or centroid displacement?).

3. Results and Discussion

Page 9, Line 343-344: The statement that STP median values (~0.5) fall below U.S. warning thresholds is important. Please specify what the typical U.S. threshold is (e.g., STP > 1.0) for reader context.

Page 13, Line 458-459: The divergence in MLLCL trends (ascending for weak vs. descending for significant tornadoes) is a key finding. Consider adding a brief physical interpretation of why weak tornado environments exhibit boundary-layer drying prior to genesis.

Table 1: Consider adding the percentage of unclassified tornadoes for each region to facilitate comparison.

Author Response

Please see the attachment.

Author Response File: Author Response.docx

Reviewer 2 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

This study investigates the regional differences in tornadic environments across China and explores their underlying physical mechanisms. The findings reveal two distinct regional mechanisms, significantly contributing to operational short-term tornado nowcasting and warning systems. The technical foundation and methodology are well detailed, although some minor improvements are still needed. The study effectively demonstrates the thermodynamic and kinematic characteristics associated with tornadoes. Overall, this paper presents consistent and compelling results and proposes future work to further complement the study.

 

Technical Suggestions

The description of the ERA5 reanalysis data used in this study is insufficient. Please include a more detailed description of the vertical and temporal resolutions, including the model levels used. This information is necessary to ensure reproducibility by other researchers.

Lines 406–445: This composite scale is closer to the meso-alpha scale than to the synoptic scale, which is typically associated with wave disturbances and large-scale patterns such as cold fronts and mesoscale convective systems (MCSs). My suggestion is to replace “synoptic-scale” with “mesoscale”.

Author Response

Please see the attachment.

Author Response File: Author Response.docx