Does India also experiences Tornadoes ?

When I was a child I used to watch a show 'storm-chasers' which used to be telecasted on Discovery channel and watching that I used to get excited that I will also do the same whenever I will be getting a chance to do that around my place but sadly from that age until now I never saw any tornado nor heard of any tornado hitting India.

2 days back a news started circulating everywhere that a tornado wrecked havoc in USA  after ripping through 6 states of America with Kentucky facing most of the brunt with having wind speeds gusting upto 320kmph and killing atleast 100. With this sad news many had a curiosity that "whether India also experiences tornadoes or not ?" 

Does it occur in India ?

It does happen in India but on a relatively lower and lesser intense scale than in US

For instance major recorded tornadoes are as follows:

1. Calcutta--1838--215 fatalities
2. Assam-- 1963 --- 139 fatalities
3. New Dehli -- 1978 -- 700 fatalities
4. Odisha -- 1978 -- 150 fatalities
5. West Bengal -- 1993 -- 145 fatalities
6. West Bengal and Odisha -- 1998 -- 120 fatalities (2000 injuries)
7. Odisha -- 2009 -- 20 fatalities -- 150 injured -- 300 homes, 11 villages destroyed.
8. Ranchi, Jharkhand -- 2013 --
   

reference :list of tornadoes in Asia

but for tornadoes to occur all climatic conditions needs to happen simultaneously 

A tornado forms when 
1. Humid air is trapped beneath cold, dry air.
2. A “cap” between the two air bodies is disturbed by wind or a weather front.
3. Lower air rises and expands toward the reduced pressure aloft, punching a hole in the cap.
4. Moisture condenses, releasing latent heat which warms the air, causing it to rise by convection at up to 150 mph. The cloud has now formed a thunderstorm.
5. The thunderstorm may die out in intense rain and/or hail, or it may spawn a tornado.
6. Interactions between air at various altitudes, humidities and temperatures cause rain, lightning, air circulation and a strong, rotating updraft, now called a “mesocyclone.” This rotation is almost always counter-clockwise (seen from above) in the Northern Hemisphere.
7. A tornado may form below the mesocyclone. As the spinning air column narrows, it rotates faster and the fcloud extends higher into the storm.

reference:working of a tornado

So if the conditions do fall into place then it will give rise to a tornado which gets unlikely in a vast country like India. Only a certain area and a certain time period gives rise to these conditions therby making tornadoes a rare occurence in India.

So next time you see someone making claims something relating about tornadoes and India...make their facts straight :) 

Do tell me whether you liked it or not :)