The advances in tornado researches are reviewed in three aspects: (1) general description, from simple cases to weather and climatic analysis of tornadoes, the structure and the formation causes of tornadoes; (2) methods for studying tornadoes, with data only from meteorological stations in the last century, but presently data not only from stations but also from satellite, Doppler radar and numerical models (WRF，ARPS); (3) problems encountered in tornado researches and prospects.