Abstract:This study examines the environmental conditions of bow echoes and the related damaging thunderstorm characteristics in Jianghuai Region (30°-36°N, 115°-122°E) by using the sounding data, surface observations, reanalysis data as well as the severe weather reports in 2009-2012. The Doppler weather radar data are also used to investigate the spatial and temporal distribution of bow echoes, as well as their three dimensional structures and possible mechanisms in causing damaging gales. Statistical results show that bow echoes in Jianghuai Region preferentially occur in northwestern Anhui, southeastern Jiangsu, southeastern Shandong to southwestern Jiangsu, and the plain between two mountains in southern Anhui with the frequency maximum in the late afternoon. The extreme damaging gales (>24.5 m·s-1) induced by bow echoes account for 30% of all the extreme damaging wind events. The typical synoptic systems associated with the bow echo are the northeast cold vortex (NECV) and upper level trough, the moderate convective available potential energy (CAPE, 1780 J·kg-1) and vertical wind shear (11.6 m·s-1 between 1000 and 700 hPa), as well as a remarkable dry layer in the middle level. Compared with the environmental conditions affected by the upper level trough systems, NECV is usually accompanied with a larger DCAPE and stronger cold pool on the surface. According to the structure of radar observations, bow echoes in Jianghuai Region are divided into three categories, including classic bow echo (BE), bow echo complex (BEC), and squall line bow echo (SLBE), which account for 28.6%, 14.3%, and 57.1%, respectively.