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. A tornado is a type of vortex. A vortex is essentially a rotating funnel that occurs from downdrafts that pull a medium, such as air or water, downward. Tornadoes are vortexes, and vortexes happen in day to day life, even if you don’t live in Tornado Alley. An everyday example of a vortex is when you pull the drain of a bathtub or sink and a rotating whirlpool occurs. This is a vortex. Tornadoes occur under this same principle, but with air in thunderstorms instead of water in a bathtub. A tornado occurs in very powerful thunderstorms, and usually it occurs in a super cell. A super cell is a type of storm that already has rotation inside of it, called a mesocycle. A tornado begins to form when a downdraft of air pulls the mesocycle down towards the ground. A funnel begins to form, and when the funnel cloud finally touches down, it officially becomes a tornado. As warm, moist air (the fuel of a tornado) is drawn into the tornado, it matures... ... middle of paper ... ...vice. National Weather Service Storm Prediction Center. March 4,2014 . Tega Jessa. Universe Today. Wordpress. March 4, 2014 < http://www.universetoday.com/52055/how-tornadoes-are-formed/ >. Windows to the Universe. National Earth Science Teachers Association. March 4, 2014 . Charles W. Bryant. HowStuffWorks. HowStuffWorks, Inc; Discovery. March 4,2014 Windows to the Universe. National Earth Science Teachers Association. March 4, 2014. John Galvin. Popular Mechanics. Hearst Communication, Inc. March 4, 2014 .
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.
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.
Thunder rolled intensely outside, my aunt, mother, sister and I were sat calmly in the basement. We had been through this many times before; I mean afterall, Kansas was part of Tornado Alley. 2. My sister and I were young when this happened, her probably four or five, me about eight. 3. Before we had even started driving to my aunt’s house; since she’s the only one with a basement; my sister and I were complaining about being hungry. 4. Mom said she would get us something to eat soon, but then the sirens started blaring. 5. She called my aunt and told her we would be over in about ten minutes. 6. Me and my sister continued to complain about being hungry because, we always had to get what we wanted. 7. So my mom stopped at McDonald’s and got us some food. 8. After we were almost five minutes later than we said we would be my aunt panicked. 9. Jenny, my aunt, was calling like crazy. 10. When we finally got to her house she lectured my mom about how it wasn’t safe to have us out there like that with a tornado in the area. 11.Afterwards, we all sat on the porch and watched the storm. 12. That’s my favorite memory with my family, and it’s one I’ll never forget.
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.
Jim Weaver McKown Barnes was born in 1933 and raised in Summerfield, Oklahoma. He is of Choctaw and Welsh descent. Before becoming an accomplished author and poet Barnes worked as a lumberjack after high school for ten years. He attended college at Southeastern Oklahoma State University where he earned his B.A. Later he went on to earn is M.A. and Ph.D at the University of Arkansas for Comparative Literature. From 1970 to 2003 Barnes was a Professor of Comparative Literature and Writer-in-Residence at Truman State University.
When a storm strikes, the aftermath of destruction that it leaves behind can be absolutely horrific. A hurricane can destroy houses, cars, towns, cities, and sometimes even states. A hurricane can cause fatalities, millions and millions of dollars in damages, but most important, in just a couple of hours, a hurricane can change your life for good. So what is a hurricane? According to NASA, hurricanes are simply just a large swirling storm. (Knows!) Such a basic definition for such a destructive event. When you think about just a large swirling storm you generally don’t come to think about a hurricane or even a tropical storm. However, hurricanes can produce winds speeds of over 160 mph and can unleash more than 2.4 trillion gallons of rain a day. The title, “Hurricane” does not apply everywhere in the world. In northern India and Bay of Bengal they are known as cyclones. In the western Pacific Ocean they are known as typhoons.
In the case when the giant cloud met up at any specific point the gravitational pull increases making the wind to move according to the rule of angular momentum,. These fast moving strong tornados and vertical columns of fast moving winds and are highly destructive and powerful. (Brian Cox, 2013)
The first thing that starts a tornado would be the winds. The wind updraft can form a funnel. This funnel is called a Mesocyclone and when the mesocyclone touches the ground it is considered a tornado. Clouds play an important role in forming tornadoes too. Some other clouds are called, Wall Clouds. These clouds protrude from the sky and look like a giant waves coming down about to crash on earth. When wall clouds form the sky might turn to a greenish color or some other color. This wall-cloud is called a Super-Cell. Super-Cells usually produce large amounts of rain up to three hours long, along with baseball sized hail. Once the Super-Cell becomes a tornado it may last from a few seconds to an hour.
According to one research meteorologist from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Severe Storms Laboratory, “the most powerful tornadoes are formed from supercell thunderstorms which include warm moisture near the surface and relatively cold, dry air above.” (National Geograpic Channel) However, all tornadoes can differ in size, strength and location where they form, they do share some common characteristics. All tornadoes are formed from rotating supercell thunderstorms. First they need wind shear, which rolls the air below into a horizontal vortex above opposing surface winds. Secondly they need an updraft, which is when warm air from the ground begins to lift part of the vortex into a vertical position. Third, they need the storm. The stronger of the two vortices created from the updraft becomes the main section of the storm while the other vortices fades out. Last but not least, they need the supercell. This is when upper level winds tilt the updraft air. This allows the storm to grow as more warm air is sucked into the storm. In a few small cases when the air falls from the supercell, it may cause rotation near the ground and that
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.
Tornadoes caused by changes in the weather. Most of them occur under certain conditions. Super cells are thunderstorms in which tornadoes form inside. “A super cell takes shape on the edge of two colliding weather fronts. There, a cool, dry air mass above meets a warm, humid air mass below. A cap separates the two air masses.” The wind change direction and the layer of air starts rotating. Warm air and cold air meets creating the funnel cloud. Cool air pulls the mesocyclone to the ground. Updraft stretches speeding up into a tornado. Tornados are most likely to form when cold air and warm air meet. One tornado has occurred in all fifty states. Ninety percent of tornadoes have happened in Tornado Alley. Tornado Alley includes Texas, Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa, Missouri and Oklahoma. Tornado season begins the beginning of April through June. Tornadoes occur at the most common time, which is from three until nine. This is the warmest time for the ground and atmosphere. They can occur with little or no warning.
Hurricanes and tornadoes are two very dangerous storms. There is a difference between the two of them. One of these storms which is the tornado has more speed than the hurricane. The hurricane is a dangerous storm, but it has more damage than the tornado, and does not happen as often as the tornado. Hurricanes are storms with wind and rain, and while it is moving across the Atlantic Ocean. Tornadoes have a circular motion when moving. When a tornado is moving basically looks like an ice cream cone. The storms Hurricanes and Tornadoes are two very dangerous storms, so be careful if one happens.
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.
Hurricanes originate as tropical disturbances over warm oceans with trade winds. The tropical turbances intensify into tropical depressions, and eventually into a tropical storm. They only originate in the tropical trade winds because the ocean temperatures are quite warm there. Powered from the heat that the sea gives off, they are steered by the east trade winds and the temperate west ones, as well as by their own ferocious energy. Around their core, winds grow with a tremendous amount of velocity creating violent seas. As they move toward the shore, they move the ocean inward, while spawning tornadoes and producing torrential rains and floods.
Most tornadoes evolve from energy. Tornadoes come from the energy released in a thunderstorm. As powerful as they are, tornadoes account for only a tiny fraction of the energy in a thunderstorm. What makes them dangerous is that their energy is concentrated in a small area, perhaps only a hundred yards across. Not all tornadoes are the same, of course, and science does not yet completely understand how part of a thunderstorm's energy sometimes gets focused into something as small as a tornad...