Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
Description of a tornado for writing
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
How would someone feel if their life changed from just one simple tornado? Would their perspective on the world change if they lost one person or maybe even more to a horrific disaster known as a tornado?
Low gray clouds loom in the distance. Suddenly, a tail descends from one of them, and twists itself into a spinning, funnel-shaped system - a tornado. It whips back and forth as it moves across the earth, whisking away houses, trees, and other objects with the tremendous force of its spinning winds. Tornadoes are one of the world’s deadliest and most unpredictable villains mankind will ever face. Tornadoes can harm and benefit society in many different ways. Tornadoes can harm society in destruction of property, mutilating the economy, traumatizing
Although the tornado of 10 June 1938 has been known about, at least anecdotally, within the scientific community since it was brought to light in 1939 by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, this potentially rich source of historic information has lain fallow. It is within this rich field of mobile, American thinking that we undertake this effort. A team of scientists with courage, brains, and even heart brought the resources to bear on the challenge.
On May 22nd, 2011 a massive tornado hit Joplin, Missouri killing 162 people and injuring 1150. With wind speeds of 322km/h, the tornado made a total cost of over $2 billion for the city. 8000 structures were destroyed, 2000 of which were homes. Many people were left homeless. The tornado held an incredible EF5 rating on the Fujita scale, measured from the amount of destruction. The tragic event lasted 38 minutes, from 5:34 pm to 6:12pm. Cool wind from the Rockies in Canada and warm wind from the gulf of Mexico formed into a supercell thunderstorm creating a tornado in Kansas. The tornado rapidly moved into Joplin and continued on its 35 km path.
A tornado struck Joplin, Missouri on May 22, 2011 at around 5:40 pm. With a population around 50,559, it killed 161 people and injured approximately 1,100 people. The cost was an estimated $2.8 billion in damage. The American taxpayers had to give about $500 million in recovery money. This made it the deadliest tornado since 1950, which was when modern recordkeeping began. Since it was an EF5 tornado, it destroyed everything in its path. The city was ruined with only piles of debris left. It was a half-mile wide when it hit Joplin and grew to three-quarters of a mile wide. It destroyed nearly 7,000 homes in Joplin and damaged hundreds more. It covered over 1,800 acres of land. The warnings that the Joplin residents received were through three different ways. The tornado warning that was sent out for Joplin’s county was from Jasper County Emergency Operations Center (JCEOC) and they claim that the first siren went off at 5:11 pm. Two other warnings for the Joplin residents was they saw the tornado heading their direction, and the media coverage which was all local electronic media switched to wall-to-wall coverage seeing live footage of the tornado.
In conclusion, the deadliest and most devastating U.S. tornado outbreak of the 20th century was the April 3–4, 1974, “Super Tornado Outbreak.” It lasted 16 hours and at least 148 twisters tore up 2,500 miles of Earth through 13 states over a 24-hour period, according to the National Weather Service. The "super outbreak," as meteorologists now call it, left 330 people dead and 5,484 injured. Property losses were placed at $600 million and only ten of the thirteen states that were hit, were declared a disaster area.
On May 20th, 2013 a EF 5 tornado hit Moore, Oklahoma and surrounding towns, with a path as wide as 1.3 miles wide (2.1 km) and had a wind speed, estimated at its peak, of 210 miles per hour (340 km/h). Killing 24 people, and injuring 377, this was one of the United States worst tornadoes in the past few years, along side the Joplin, Missouri tornado, in 2011. One of Mother Nature’s most dangerous and still very mysterious phenomenons averages about 1,200 reported each year, resulting in 80 deaths and injuring 1500. With very little known about them, especially whether or not they will form is one of the questions that plague meteorologist to this very day. What causes tornadoes, how does the tilt and gravity of the earth affect the winds to produce a tornado, and what will the future hold about our understanding of tornadoes?
In this paper, I will discuss what tornadoes are and how they form, what different forms of tornadoes there are, what tornado watches and warning are and give examples of tornadoes in Oklahoma and what destruction they caused, also while providing information about the Doppler radar.
It is indeed sad that some people have to pay the price of criminals. However, when we see it from another perspective we might understand the reasons that may support it. The tragically events of 9/11 have change many things, in particular the safety of our people and policies of national security, as for instance the Anti-terrorism Act. The US government claims that this act is supported by several claims: one, this law is necessary to fulfill international obligations; two, many allied countries had ratified similar laws. And third, this Act provides greater protection than other legislations, (Boccabella, 2003). These legislations are not passed overnight, but after much study and critical thinking of possible consequences. What does not
About a week later a tornado razed a better part of North Houston. It brought rain. It brought hail. It upended cars; it flooded houses. And in its trail it left fallen branches and trees, and removed, in whole, one tiny tomato-onion-potato-and-green-bean garden located behind my garage.
Tornadoes are devastating atmospheric events that affect the ecology and the lives of people in their paths. Tornadoes are defined as “a violently rotating column of air, in contact with the ground, either pendant from a cumuliform cloud or underneath a cumuliform cloud, and often (but not always) visible as a funnel cloud” (Glossary of Meteorology, 2011). The Tri-state tornado was the deadliest tornado in the United States. It stayed on the ground for a total of 219 miles through areas of Missouri, Illinois, and Indiana, killed a total of 695 people, and an estimated $16.5 million in damages (National Weather Service, 2011). Luckily, the tornado’s path was largely rural farmland with scattered small towns between them.
It seems like every year Oklahoma is hit by massive storms and tornados that kill people and wound many others. Although some may say Oklahomans are used to getting hit by storms and tornados, but the outcome is never something we get used to and this year, just like any other, we got hit. On May 20, 2013 an EF5 tornado started to develop and little did we know that this tornado would be talked about everywhere. This tornado did major damage to houses, towns, and buildings, but what got this tornado so much attention was that it tore through an elementary school, that was unprotected from tornados, and killed seven children. According to the National Weather Service’s Top Ten Deadliest Oklahoma Tornados (1882-Present) this specific tornado is ranked number nine, killing 23 individuals and injuring 237 others. Even though there is a slim chance we could have saved everyone, we still could have saved those children in the Plaza Towers Elementary school. All they needed was a storm shelter at their school to take cover in and they probably would have all survived.
Tornadoes are powerful and destructive phenomena created in strong thunderstorms. Tornadoes are most common in the United States, and in the U.S., they are common in an area called Tornado Alley. Every year, tornadoes wreak havoc on the countryside, towns, and even cities. The deadliest tornado in U.S. history crossed over three states, destroyed 15,000 homes, and killed almost 700 people. There are only a couple of people on record that claim to have been in and seen the center of a tornado and lived. Tornadoes even have their own rating scale, based on their wind and damage level.Tornadoes are powerful vortexes created in thunderstorms, are common in the U.S., have its own rating scale, have only been seen on the inside a few times, have the potential to demolish towns, and can take lives.
Most tornados produced from these storms are relatively weak, don’t enter inhabited areas, and cause little to no damage. The problem is that Oklahoma gets 55.1 tornados annually. With all of these tornados, a couple of them are bound to go through populated areas and cause damage. The damage the tornado causes incre...
Tornadoes are one of the deadliest and most unpredictable villains mankind will ever face. There is no rhyme or reason, no rhythm to it’s madness. Tornados are one of the most terrifying natural events that occur, destroying homes and ending lives every year. April 29th, 1995, a calm, muggy, spring night I may never forget. Jason, a buddy I grew up with, just agreed to travel across state with me so we could visit a friend in Lubbock. Jason and I were admiring the beautiful blue bonnets, which traveled for miles like little blue birds flying close to the ground. The warm breeze brushed across the tips of the blue bonnets and allowed them to dance under the perfectly clear blue sky. In the distance, however, we could see darkness. A rumbling sky was quickly approaching.
Other than the sweltering heat in the summer time in Oklahoma City, the only dilemma are tornadoes. I grew up in the middle of this “tornado alley” and eventually developed a sixth sense for detecting tornadic activity. Even in the 1980’s tornadoes were known for their violent crime wave, vandalizing neighborhoods and kidnapping children and adults. Imagine a beautiful evening in Moore, a suburb lying on the outskirts of Oklahoma City. Mom is in the kitchen and the kids are playing in the yard. In a matter of minutes, the sky turns green and large cumulonimbus clouds start to churn. A crackle of thunder sends a chill up your spine, followed by a strong odor of ozone that fills the air as Mother Nature’s fireworks illuminate the dark sky. Large golf ball sized hail sting your window and a melody of car alarms play in the streets. You panic as the lights inside your house start to flicker as the tornado touches down and it is reported as an F-5, the largest of all the tornadoes, tearing through houses with awe-inspiring velocity. The tornado engorges cars, trees, and small houses as it approaches your house. Being prepared, you descend to the storm cellar and brace yourself for the full impact of the unforgiving monster. The tornado has left its calling card on your block. A scrap of metal and glass resembling your car is found on your next door neighbor’s lawn. The houses on your block have vanished, leaving behind a scene of ultimate destruction. Families stand outside telling stories of how their child was stripped right out of their hands as the behemoth rampaged through their houses.
A tornado is defined as a violently rotating column extending from a thunderstorm to the ground. The most violent tornadoes are capable of tremendous destruction with wind speeds of two hundred and fifty miles per hour or more. Damage paths can be more than one mile wide and fifty miles long. In an average year, eight hundred tornadoes are reported nationwide, resulting in eighty deaths and over one thousand five hundred injuries. In the body of my essay, I will tell you about types of tornadoes, where tornadoes come from, where and when tornadoes occur, the damage they inflict, variations of tornadoes, and how to detect tornadoes.