What are the differences between hurricane and tornado?

Answer 1

A hurricane is a tropical cyclone with sustained winds of at least 74 mph. Characteristics.

• A hurricane is its own, self-sustaining storm system.
• Hurricanes are enormous, typically spanning several hundred miles in diameter.
• Hurricanes form over warm ocean water and are mostly limited to the tropics.
• Hurricanes produce heavy rain and flooding in addition to powerful winds

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:

• A tornado is dependent on a larger parent thunderstorm
• Tornadoes are small in weather terms, only a handful have been over 2 miles wide.
• Tornadoes typically form over land and can form almost anywhere, but are most common intemperate regions
• Tornadoes a chiefly a wind event.
• Tornadoes are usually made visible by a condensation funnel.

Answer 2

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:

• Are hundreds of miles wide.
• Form only over warm ocean water.
• Last for days and sometimes well over a week.
• Produce rain and flooding in addition to powerful winds.
• Are independent, self-sustaining storm systems.
• Have winds ranging from 74 to about 200 mph

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:

• Are rarely over a mile wide
• Usually form over land
• Usually last minutes, rarely a few hours
• Cause damage via wind and debris
• Are dependent on a large storm to develop and keep going
• Have winds ranging from 65 to about 300 mph
• Often have a condensation funnel.

In summary:

1. Hurricanes form over warm ocean water as tropical depressions, and weaken rapidly over land. Tornadoes normally form over land from mesocyclones.
2. Hurricanes are hundreds of miles wide while tornadoes are typically a few dozen yards wide, getting up to two-and-a-half miles wide at most.
3. A hurricane usually lasts a few days while a tornado cannot last more than a few hours, and some last just a few seconds.
4. Hurricanes can produce large waves and storm surge, tornadoes, waterspouts and flooding rains. A tornado can be accompanied by these but does not directly cause them.
5. The strongest tornadoes have faster winds than the strongest hurricanes.

Answer 3

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.

Answer 4

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.

Answer 5

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.

Answer 6

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.

Answer 7

A hurricane nearly always has stronger winds than a blizzard.