0
What else can I help you with?
What happens in the middle of a tornado?
The winds in a tornado are actually fastest at the edge of the funnel. Withing that radius the tornado rotates as if it were a solid object, so wind is not as strong at the center as you might expect. The pressure at the center, however, is quite low. In some tornadoes a downdraft descends though the center in a process called vortex breakdown.
What is the subject of The center of a tornado can cause a great deal of damage?
The center of a tornado.
What is downdraft?
a downdraft is air that goes down-the air gets colder and it sinks
Why does everything get calm before a tornado?
The calm before a tornado is due to the changing wind patterns and pressure within a tornado-producing storm. As the storm intensifies, air begins to rise rapidly, creating a calm and still area near the center of the storm before the tornado forms. This calm period is often short-lived and is followed by the destructive tornado itself.
What is a super cell and how does it develop into a tornado?
A supercell is a powerful thunderstorm with a strong, rotating updraft called a mesocyclone. They don't so much develop into tornadoes as they produce them. How they do this is not fully understood, but it is believed that moist of the time a downdraft called a rear-flank downdraft or RFD wraps around the bottom part of the mesocyclone, tightening and intensifying it to form a tornado.
Why do tornadoes have downdrafts?
For the most part a tornado is actually an updraft as it is connected with the rotating updraft of its parent thunderstorm. However there are two downdrafts that are related to tornadoes. The first is the rear-flank downdraft of a thunderstorm. This downdraft is induced by rain and wraps around the rotating updraft of a supercell thunderstorm. This is believed to tighten and intensify the mesocyclone to produce a tornado. Another, less common downdraft occurs when a tornado undergoes something called vortex breakdown. The center of a tornado has low pressure, which draws air inward and upward, but in a very intense tornado the air is spinning so fast that it cannot reach the center so the low pressure draws air downward, forming a downdraft in the center of the tornado. This is a similar mechanism to what produced they eye of a hurricane.
Does a tornado have a very strong updraft at its center?
Usually a tornado will have a strong updraft at its center, but some tornadoes sometimes have a gentle downdraft at the center instead while the powerful updraft is limited to the area surrounding it. This is analogous to the eye and eyewall of a hurricane.
How do little tornadoes form in a big tornado?
These "little tornadoes" are called suction vortices or subvortices in what scientists call a multiple vortex tornado. A tornado becomes multivortex through a process called vortex breakdown. In some cases a tornado will spin so fast that wind flowing into it cannot reach the center. Instead, a gentle downdraft descends through the tornado's center, creating a calm area similar to the eye of a hurricane. When this downdraft reaches the ground the air spreads out and collides with air flowing in. Since this inflowing air has a lot of angular momentum, its collision with the downdraft results in the formation of smaller tornado-like vortices within the larger tornado.
What happens in the center of a tornado?
In most tornadoes the wind moves up in the center of a tornado. However, in others there is a downdraft that forms because the tornado is spinning so fast that winds from the outside cannot reach the center. This creates a calm area similar to the eye of a hurricane.
What happens in the middle of a tornado?
The winds in a tornado are actually fastest at the edge of the funnel. Withing that radius the tornado rotates as if it were a solid object, so wind is not as strong at the center as you might expect. The pressure at the center, however, is quite low. In some tornadoes a downdraft descends though the center in a process called vortex breakdown.
What is a downdraft in the wind before a tornado?
A downdraft is a downward movement of air. Tornado formation is associated with what is called a rear-flank downdraft or RFD. The RFD descends from the back of a supercell thunderstorm and wraps around the rotating part of the storm called the mesocyclone, causing the rotation to tighten and intensify to form a tornado.
What is the role of downdrafts in the formation of a tornado?
Tornadoes usually form from a type of thunderstorm called a supercell, which has a rotating updraft called a mesocyclone. A downdraft at the back of the storm, called the rear-flank downdraft or RFD is believed to wrap around the tornado, tightening and intensifying it to produce a tornado.
When does the tornado actually form?
A tornado most often forms within a few minutes of the rear-flank downdraft wrapping around the mesocyclone.
What are the parts on a tornado?
A tornado typically consists of a rotating column of air called a vortex, which is surrounded by a condensation funnel made up of water droplets or debris. It also has an updraft at its center, where warm air rises rapidly, and a downdraft around the periphery where colder air descends.
Is rain part of the tornado's formation?
Yes it is. Tornadoes form during thunderstorms, and a downdraft caused by rain is one of the things needed to produce the tornado.
How do tornadoes form in tornadoes?
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.
What are some local wind patterns contribute to tornadoes?
The mos significant wind pattern that contributes to tornado formation is the rear-flank downdraft. It is believed that this downdraft wraps around the mesocyclone, the rotating updraft of a supercell thunderstorm, causing it to tighten and intensify to form a tornado,
