A climatology of tornadoes in Germany using the TorDACH database up to the
year 2000 is presented. The total number of tornadoes is 517 and the number
of reports has increased substantially after 1870. Tornado activity is at
maximum in July, and at minimum from November to February. The daily distri
bution peaks in the afternoon and early evening with a weak secondary morni
ng maximum due to waterspout outbreaks. In general, both daily and seasonal
trends follow the variation of thunderstorm activity. The highest F-scale
rating so far is F4 and in the range from F1 to F4 a nearly lin-log distrib
ution of tornado intensity is found. The low number of reported F0 tornadoe
s indicates that perhaps only every third tornado in Germany is reported. A
lso, the geographical distribution shows that many cases from east Germany
are missing. However, three different regions of typical tornado activity c
an be inferred: the northern coastal region, the hilly terrain of mid and s
outhern Germany, and a zone influenced by Mediterranean air in summer and a
n orogenic low-level wind shear in the south-west. For the latter, an examp
le of a tornado alley is given. From a conservative estimate of tornadic ac
tivity in Germany, a number of four to seven tornadoes per year and a recur
rence density of about 0.1 to 0.2 a(-1) 10(-4) km(-2) is deduced, in accord
ance with earlier work. However, both extrapolation based on statistical ar
guments and the more detailed records of recent years suggest values a fact
or of three to four higher. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reser
ved.