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This best seems to describe a multiple vortex tornado. This is a tornado that has smaller vortices, called suction vortices, circling inside the main vortex. The development of such a tornado is complicated. Let's start with a single vortex tornado. Contrary to popular belief the strongest winds in a tornado are at the edge of the funnel rather than at the center. However, the lowest pressure in a tornado is at the center. While air mostly moves up in a tornado, in some especially strong ones, the low pressure causes a downdraft to move down the center of the tornado. This is a process called vortex breakdown. When this downdraft reaches ground level the air must move outward, but it soon meets the air flowing into the tornado. This interaction creates and area of very strong convergence where the inflow and outflow meet, and some of the tornado's angular momentum gets converted into smaller vortices within the main circulation.

These suction vortices create looping swaths of more severe damage within the main damage path.

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9y ago

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