Tornadoes are vertical funnels of rapidly spinning air. Their winds may top 250 miles (400 kilometers) an hour and can clear a pathway a mile (1.6 kilometers) wide and 50 miles (80 kilometers) long.
Twisters are born in thunderstorms and are often accompanied by hail. Giant, persistent thunderstorms called supercells spawn the most destructive tornadoes. These violent storms occur around the world, but the United States is a major hotspot with about a thousand tornadoes every year. "Tornado Alley," a region that includes the area in the eastern state of South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, northern Texas, and eastern Colorado, is home to the most powerful and destructive of these storms. U.S. tornadoes cause 80 deaths and more than 1,500 injuries per year. TORNADO FACTS
A tornado is a violently rotating column of air that extends from a thunderstorm to the ground. It's often portended by a dark, greenish sky. Black storm clouds gather. Baseball-size hail might fall. A funnel suddenly appears, as though descending from a cloud. The funnel hits the ground and roars forward with a sound like that of a freight train approaching. The tornado tears up everything in its path. Some of Earth's most violent events, nearly a thousand tornadoes—many of them deadly—touch down every year in the United States. Every U.S. state has experienced twisters, but Texas holds the record: an annual average of 120. Tornadoes have been reported in Great Britain, India, Argentina, and other countries, but most tornadoes occur in the United States. Related to tornadoes, waterspouts are weak twisters that form over warm water. They sometimes move inland and become tornadoes. Dust devils are small, rapidly rotating columns of air that are made visible by the dust and dirt they pick up. Dust devils are not associated with thunderstorms. WHAT CAUSES TORNADOES? The most violent tornadoes come from supercells, large thunderstorms that have winds already in rotation. About one in a thousand storms becomes a supercell, and one in five or six supercells spawns off a tornado. Tornado season begins in early spring for the states along the Gulf of Mexico. The season follows the jet stream—as it swings farther north, so does tornado activity. May generally has more tornadoes than any other month, but April's twisters are usually more violent. Although they can occur at any time of the day or night, most tornadoes form in the late afternoon. By this time the sun has heated the ground and the atmosphere enough to produce thunderstorms. Tornadoes form when warm, humid air collides with cold, dry air. The denser cold air is pushed over the warm air, usually producing thunderstorms. The warm air rises through the colder air, causing an updraft. The updraft will begin to rotate if winds vary sharply in speed or direction. As the rotating updraft, called a mesocycle, draws in more warm air from the moving thunderstorm, its rotation speed increases. Cool air fed by the jet stream, a strong band of wind in the atmosphere, provides even more energy. Water droplets from the mesocyclone's moist air form a funnel cloud. The funnel continues to grow and eventually it descends from the cloud. When it touches the ground, it becomes a tornado. CHARACTERISTICS OF TORNADOES Twisters are usually accompanied or preceded by severe thunderstorms and hlgh wlnds. Hail is also common. Once a tornado hits the ground, it may live for as little as a few seconds or as long as three hours. The average twister is about 660 feet (200 meters) wide and moves about 30 miles (50 kilometers) an hour. Most don't travel more than six miles (ten kilometers) before dying out. Massive tornadoes, however—the ones capable of widespread destruction and many deaths—can roar along as fast as 300 miles (480 kilometers) an hour. These measurements are scientists' best estimations. Anemometers, which measure wind speed, cannot withstand the enormous force of tornadoes to record them. Using units F0 to F5, the Fujita scale measures a tornado's intensity by analyzing the damage a tornado has done and then matching that to the wind speeds estimated to produce comparable damage. What Damage Do Tornadoes Do? Every year in the United States, tornadoes do about 400 million dollars in damage and kill about 70 people on average. Extremely high winds tear homes and businesses apart. Winds can also destroy bridges, flip trains, send cars and trucks flying, tear the bark off trees, and suck all the water from a riverbed. High winds sometimes kill or injure people by rolling them along the ground or dropping them from dangerous heights. But most tornado victims are struck by flying debris—roofing shingles, broken glass, doors, metal rods. The number of average deaths per year in the United States used to be higher before improved forecasting and warning systems were put into place. HOW ARE TORNADOES FORECASTED? Meteorologists at the U.S. National Weather Service use Doppler radar, satellites, weather balloons, and computer modeling to watch the skies for severe storms and tornadic activity. Doppler radars record wind speeds and identify areas of rotation within thunderstorms. Since Doppler radar has been in use, the warning time for tornadoes has grown from fewer than five minutes in the 1980s to an average of 13 minutes today. When weather conditions are conducive for tornado formation, the National Weather Service issues a tornado watch. When a tornado has been sighted or indicated on radar, a tornado warning is issued. Some scientists, meteorology buffs, and adrenaline junkies hit the road during tornado season to chase storms. Researchers race to place sensors in tornadoes' paths. The sensors measure data such as wind speed, barometric pressure, humidity, and temperature. The challenge for researchers is being in the right place at the right time, a nearly impossible feat. Every morning they study weather conditions and head for the area that seems most likely to spawn a twister. They drive through severe storms, dodge lightning, face flash floods, and get pounded by hail—sometimes for years—before ever spotting a tornado. Tornado Safety Tips Tornadoes are one of nature's most powerful and destructive forces. Here's some advice on what a tornado is, how to prepare for one, and what to do if you're caught in a twister's path. HOW DOES A TORNADO FORM? A tornado is a violently rotating column of air that extends from a thunderstorm to the ground. It's often portended by a dark, greenish sky. Black storm clouds gather. Baseball-size hail might fall. A funnel suddenly appears, descending from a cloud. The funnel hits the ground and roars forward with a sound like that of a freight train approaching. The tornado tears up everything in its path. Some of Earth's most violent events, nearly a thousand tornadoes—many of them deadly—touch down every year in the United States. Every U.S. state has experienced twisters, but Texas holds the record: an annual average of 120. Tornadoes have been reported in Great Britain, India, Argentina, and other countries, but most tornadoes occur in the United States. HOW TO STAY SAFE• Prepare for tornadoes by gathering emergency supplies, including food, water, medications, batteries, flashlights, important documents, road maps, and a full tank of gasoline. • When a tornado approaches, anyone in its path should take shelter indoors—preferably in a basement or an interior first-floor room or hallway. • Avoid windows and seek additional protection by getting underneath large, solid pieces of furniture. • Avoid automobiles and mobile homes, which provide almost no protection from tornadoes. • Those caught outside should lie flat in a depression or on other low ground and wait for the storm to pass. Comments are closed.
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Erik E. Mason
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