With the development of science and technology, why are tornadoes still difficult to predict?

The first reason is that tornadoes are too small. The impact of tornadoes ranges from several kilometers to dozens of kilometers, and sometimes even reaches 100 meters. At present, it is impossible to set up a meteorological station every few kilometers to dozens of kilometers, which is like "catching small fish with a big net", and there will inevitably be omissions. This kind of "fish escaping from the net" makes people feel that the weather forecast is not accurate.

Secondly, the life cycle of strong convective weather such as tornadoes is very short. Tornadoes, downbursts, squall lines and other weather. It often happens suddenly and has a short impact on a certain area. The "life history" is only ten minutes to an hour, and some even minutes, unlike a typhoon, which may take several days from generation to extinction. Therefore, it is very difficult to forecast the severe convective weather in some areas 24 hours or 48 hours in advance.

Third, the formation of tornadoes complicates atmospheric conditions. As we know, the weather is a complex nonlinear system, just as American meteorologist Lorenz explained the weather system: a butterfly wing occasionally vibrates in the Amazon rainforest, which may trigger a tornado in Texas within two weeks. This is the so-called "butterfly effect", that is, the initial condition is "thousands of miles away" and the future weather result may be "thousands of miles away".

What's more, the generation and development of tornadoes need to measure comprehensive atmospheric conditions, which is often unpredictable and inaccurate. Coupled with the different terrain factors between different regions, it further increases the difficulty of prediction.