A. Tornadoes are one of the most severe types of weather phenomena. While many people fear tornadoes and their destructive power, few people do not understand their real causes and effects, nor are they aware of how to protect themselves from their devastating force.
B. Tornadoes, violently rotating columns of air, occur when a change in wind direction, coupled with an increase in wind speed, results in a spinning effect in the lower atmosphere. These whirling movements, which may not be visible to the naked eye, are exacerbated when the rotating air column shifts from a horizontal to a vertical position. As the revolving cloud draws the warm air that surrounds it at ground level, its spinning motion begins to accelerate, thereby tornadoes become pendent from low pressure storm clouds.
C.
…show more content…
When a tornado comes into contact with the ground it produces a strong upward draft known as a vortex, a spiraling column of wind that can reach speeds in excess of 200 miles per hour. Travelling across the landscape, the tornado wreaks a path of concentrated destruction. It is not uncommon for these twisters to lift heavy objects, like cars or large animals, and throw them several miles. Houses that succumb to the force of the tornado seem to explode as the low air pressure inside the vortex collides with the normal air pressure inside the buildings.
D. Tornadoes can occur at any time of the year, but are typically most frequent during the summer months. Equally, tornadoes can happen at any time during the day, but usually occur between 3:00 in the afternoon and 9:00 in the evening. While these fierce funnels occur in many parts of the world, they are most common in the United States. On average, there are 1,200 tornadoes per year in this vast nation, causing 70 fatalities and 1500
According to Webster’s Dictionary, a tornado is a rotating column of air accompanied by a funnel shaped downward extension of a cumulonimbus cloud and having a vortex several hundred yards in diameter whirling destructively at speeds of up to three hundred miles per hour. There are six classifications of tornadoes, which are measured on what is known as the Fujita Scale. These tornadoes range from an F0 to an F5, which is the most devastating of all. Abnormal warm, humid, and oppressive weather usually precede the formation of a tornado. Records of American tornadoes date back to 1804 and have been known to occur in every state of the United States.
The 1953 Waco Tornado was the deadliest tornado in Texas since 1900. The violent and deadly twister ripped through the downtown area killing and injuring hundreds. 600 homes were destroyed and 5 people were hit and killed in cars.Injured people were 597 and 114 killed.
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?
What makes tornadoes and their destruction interesting to people? Is it the variety in formations, the miles one can travel, the random paths it takes, the changes tornadoes can make on climate and the formation of the land or is it because tornadoes often leave behind a path of destruction and deaths?
On May 4, 2007, the town of Greensburg, Kansas was devastated by an exceptionally strong tornado. With maximum winds estimated to be in excess of 205 miles per hour, and leaving a damage path as wide as 1.7 miles, the storm would go on to be rated a rare EF5, the first recorded in the United States since 1999. When the storm finally subsided, 95 percent of Greensburg had been destroyed, killing eleven people.
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.
A tornado warning means that a tornado has been indicated by radar or seen by spotters in the area of the warning. It also means that there is a serious threat to people’s lives and property in the affected area. Lastly, it means that you should stay inside a safe place, seek shelter, and follow tornado safety guidelines. Wind speeds in a tornado can range from 40 mph to 320 mph.
The belief that firing a cannonball or other projectile into a spout can "break it up" has no scientific foundation. Whirlwinds In the general sense, a whirlwind is any rotating mass of air or atmospheric vortex. The term is, however, commonly restricted to atmospheric systems smaller than a tornado but larger than eddies of micro scale turbulence. A whirlwind is usually named after the visible phenomenon associated with it; thus there are dust whirls, or dust devils; sand whirls, or sand pillars; and fire, smoke, and even snow whirls, or spouts. In contrast to the pendant form of the tornado funnel, a dust or sand devil develops from the ground upward, usually under hot, clear-sky conditions. The whirl shape is normally that of a cylindrical column or an inverted cone. The axis of rotation is usually vertical, but it may be inclined. The direction of rotation may be either clockwise or counterclockwise.
A tornado requires some basic ingredients to come together. First, energy in the form of warm, moist air must exist to feed thunder storms. Second, there must be a top layer of hot, dry air called a cap. This air acts like a lid on a simmering pot, holding in the warm air that’s accumulating in the atmosphere below until the storm’s ready to burst. Last, there has to be rotating winds speeding in oppositedirections at two different levels in the atmosphere, a phenomenon called wind shear, can cause the storms to rotate. Tornado alley is perfectly situated to meet these requirements. (1)
Tracie Varvir Physical Geography Short Paper: Severe Weather Storms October 15, 2014 Hurricanes and Tornados Of all the devastating natural disasters that can occur, severe weather storms are amongst the worst. Not all storms are as life threatening as the other, and not all storms are even considered severe. However, when certain weather conditions arise and everything in nature is just right, a storm can grow and terrorize people even though the necessary precautions may have been taken. Two of the most wretched types of storms that are experienced are hurricanes and tornados.
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.
To the industrialists, I, Samuel Morse, am surely going to convince you all that my recent invention, the telegraph, will be without a doubt, the most influential piece of technology that has ever existed. The telegraph is an extraordinary invention that allows information to be communicated between individuals in a rapid and efficient manner. Through your investment, the first telegraph in history will be created! My invention will send messages at a rapid rate and our national and international news will no longer be reduced and outdated. The telegraph will prevent conflicts and wars as well as become the initiator of many more technologies to come.
1. According to the USA Today Tornado Information website, a tornado is a "violently rotating column of air in contact with the ground and pendant from a thunderstorm." Therefore, thunderstorms are the first step in the creation of a tornado.
middle of paper ... ... Help people if they are trapped under fallen debris and give them first aid in the event that they are injured. Tornado safety and preparedness are key to protecting your loved ones during a tornado. So far, there has been no evidence that tornadoes pick up objects and move them to Oz, but we do know they can lift enormous objects and cause billions of dollars in damage.
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.