A hurricane is a tropical cyclone with sustained winds of at least 74 mph. Characteristics.
A tornado is a violently rotating column of air extending fro the base of a thunderstorm to the ground. Characteristics of tornadoes that are not like those of hurricanes:
Hurricanes and tornadoes are both damaging windstorms, but they are very different phenomena. One is a large weather system and the other is an isolated weather event. A hurricane is a huge airmass that can be more than 1000 miles across, while a tornado is seldom more than 1 mile across, and often much less.
Hurricanes
A hurricane (also known as a cyclone or typhoon) is a very large,swirling storm with strong winds and heavy rains. It consists of an area of closed, circular fluid motion rotating in the same direction as the Earth. This is usually characterized by inward spiraling winds that rotate counter-clockwise in the Northern Hemisphere and clockwise in the Southern Hemisphere. These cyclonic circulations of wind and clouds can sometimes, but not always, lead to a storm characterized by a low pressure center and numerous thunderstorms that produce strong winds and flooding rain. They can only form over warm water with minimal wind shear, but often make landfall at some point as they move across the ocean. While much of the damage caused by hurricanes is from high winds, equally dangerous is its storm surge, which can flood entire cities, killing large numbers of people.
Hurricanes:
Tornadoes
A tornado is a swirling column of wind that moves across the ground in a relatively narrow path. It consists of a violent, dangerous, rotating column of air which extends from a cloud to the ground. The most intense of all atmospheric phenomena, tornadoes come in many shapes and sizes but are typically in the form of a visible condensation funnel, whose narrow end touches the earth and is often encircled by a cloud of debris and dust. They can demolish entire neighborhoods in a matter of a few seconds to a few minutes.
Tornadoes form from thunderstorms called supercells and reach toward the ground as they develop. Most tornadoes last a few minutes and never more than a few hours. Some last just a few seconds. Most tornado deaths are from flying debris.
Tornadoes:
In summary:
There is a great degree of overlap between hurricane and tornado winds, but the strongest of tornadoes have far stronger winds than any hurricane. Let's compare the scales.
First the Saffir-Simpson hurricane scale:
Category 1: 74-95 mph
Category 2: 96-110 mph
Category 3: 111-130 mph
Category 4: 131-155 mph
Category 5: over 155 mph
Winds in hurricanes have been measured as high as 190 mph.
Now the Enhanced Fujita scale for tornadoes
EF0: 65-85 mph
EF1: 86-110 mph
EF2: 111-135 mph
EF3: 136-165 mph
EF4: 166-200 mph
EF5: over 200 mph
Winds in tornadoes have been measured to just over 300 mph.
A high wind is generally a strong wind that travels more or less in a straight line and can have a number of causes.
A tornado has a stricter definition. A tornado is a violently rotating vortex of air the connect with both the ground and the cloud base of a thunderstorm, usually made visible by a condensation funnel. Tornadoes are also generally more violent than other wind events, but they key difference is that the winds of a tornado spin while ordinary high winds do not.
Most tornadoes and hurricanes have winds in the same range as hurricane winds start at 74 mph and tornado wind estimates mostly start at 65 mph.
But in tornado winds can be far stronger than those of any hurricane.
The strongest winds every recorded in a hurricane were 190 mph while the strongest winds recorded in a tornado were 302 mph.
Strong winds are usually produced by differences in pressure. The greater the pressure difference over a given distance, the faster the winds. Tornadoes produce a pressure drop similar to or even greater than that off a hurricane and over a much shorter distance.
A hurricane nearly always has stronger winds than a blizzard.
a hurricane
Both a hurricane and a tornado have centers of intense low pressure.
If you mean a hurricane in a bottle then yes, a hurricane in a bottle and a tornado in a bottle are the same thing. In shape, however, the vortex bears more resemblance to a tornado than a hurricane.
The winds in a tornado funnel are perhaps faster (and therefore more destructive) than a hurricane, but the diameter of a tornado is very very small compared with a hurricane.
No. While they are both spinning storms, tornadoes, unlike hurricanes, can and frequently do form over land.
A hurricane is an independent storm system while a tornado is dependent on a parent storm cell.A hurricane is typically several hundred miles wide while a tornado is usually no more than a few hundred yards wide.Hurricanes can only form over warm ocean water while tornadoes usually form over land.
A tornado produces a greater pressure drop over a shorter distance than a hurricane.
There is no conflict between a hurricane and a tornado. In fact, hurricanes often produce tornadoes. However, if you were to somehow pitch the force of a hurricane against the force of a tornado, the hurricane would "win" without being significantly affected. Although a tornado can have faster winds than a hurricane, hurricanes are much larger and have several orders of magnitude more energy than a tornado.
It can't. A hurricane can't become a tornado.
a hurricane
Both a hurricane and a tornado have centers of intense low pressure.
Wind strength
If you mean a hurricane in a bottle then yes, a hurricane in a bottle and a tornado in a bottle are the same thing. In shape, however, the vortex bears more resemblance to a tornado than a hurricane.
The winds in a tornado funnel are perhaps faster (and therefore more destructive) than a hurricane, but the diameter of a tornado is very very small compared with a hurricane.
No, a hurricane is a huge storm hundreds of miles wide. A tornado is tiny by comparison.
a tornado because of when it hit it it keeps going but a hurricane will stop at land
The duration of Hurricane Ivan tornado outbreak is 48 hours.