It varies. Many small, weak tornadoes touch down and never cause damage or only cause damage to trees, so there is no cost of damage. When weak (EF0 or EF1) tornadoes do hit property, damage is typically in the tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands of dollars. Costs may occasionally reach into the millions.
However, not all small tornadoes are weak. A small but intense (EF3+) tornado striking a community can cause damage in the millions to tens of millions of dollars.
The Daulatpur-Saturia tornado in Bangladesh in 1989 caused extensive damage and resulted in over 1300 fatalities. The economic cost of the tornado is estimated to be around $1.5 billion.
The most expensive tornado on officiall record to date was the EF5 tornado that struck Joplin, Missouri on May 22, 2011. The cost of damage was $2.8 billion.
cloud and wind
That varies. If you are close enough to be in the area of the tornado's inflow then the wind will blow almost directly towards the tornado, perhaps a little to the right of that direction. In that case the wind direction will depend on where the tornado is relative to you. If you are beyond the inflow area for the tornado, then nothing about the wind direction would indicate the approaching tornado.
The Daulatpur-Saturia tornado of April 26, 1989 was the deadliest tornado on record with an estimated death toll of 1300. The tornado was on the ground for about 50 miles striking the cities of Daulatpur and Saturia. The extremely high death toll was the result of the tornado striking densely populated and very poor areas where shabby construction offered little protetction. This tornado was never rated; Bangladesh, where the tornado occurred, does not conduct storm surveys and poor construction makes it difficult to assess intensity.
Severe thunderstorms have the potential of producing a tornado with little or no advanced tornado warning.
The Greensburg tornado cost about $250 million.
The cost of damage from the Joplin tornado of 2011 was $2.8 billion, making it the costliest tornado in U.S. history.
That depends on which tornado you are referring to. St Louis has been hit by many tornadoes. The St. Louis tornado of 1896 had a cost of about $20 million at the time, which is equivalent to a bout $570 million in modern amounts. The St. Louis tornado of 1927 cost about $22 million at the time, equivalent to about $300 million today. The St. Louis tornado of 2011 had a cost of about $30 million.
The United States experiences about 1200 tornadoes in an average year that cause a total of about $1 billion in damage. This works out to a mean of a little over $800,000 per tornado. Most likely the cost of a typical tornado is somewhat lower, though, as often a few especially destructive tornadoes make up a significant portion of the damage for a given year.
The cost of damage from the Waco tornado was $41 million.
The cost of damage from the Joplin tornado amounted to $2.8 billion.
The costliest tornado on record was the Joplin, Missouri tornado of May 22, 2011 with a cost of damage at $2.8 billion.
Its Free
On rare occasions winds in a tornado can get to a little over 300mph.
It doesn't really. A tornado in a bottle provides amusement, but little else.
The cost of damage from the Manchester, South Dakota tornado of 2003 was $3 million.