Tornadoes

A dust devil is a small, rotating column of air that picks up particles like dust and debris. If one hits in front of you, it typically means that you may experience sudden gusts of wind and a brief period of swirling debris, but it is generally not dangerous. It's best to move away to ensure your safety and protect your eyes and lungs from debris.

Flying debris can shatter windows and doors. If the tornado is strong enough, it can blow the roof right off of a building or knock down walls. In the worst cases, structures can be leveled to the ground or even completely blown away. The severity of damage can be rated on the Enhanced Fujita (EF) scale.

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A closet is small, and as a result, the walls do a good job of supporting each other. In larger rooms the walls have longer spans where they are not supported by another wall, making them more likely to collapse. Additionally, closets do not have windows, which are dangerous to be near during a tornado.

Yes, a tornado typically forms within a thunderstorm. Thunderstorms create the necessary conditions for tornado development, such as strong updrafts and wind shear. The presence of a rotating updraft within a thunderstorm can lead to the formation of a tornado.

The estimated wind speed of an EF0 tornado is 65-85 mph.

The common statement is that tornadoes develp when warm and cold air collide, but this grossly oversimplifies what is going on. The collision of warm and cold air masses is not the direct cause of tornadoes nor, is it completely necessary. If there is enough instability in the warm air mass, the collision can lead to the formation of thunderstorms. If a few other conditions are right these storms might go on to produce tornadoes. However such storms may also form wheredry air pushes into moist air. They can sometimes even form from convective storm systems without any colliding air masses.

The funnel is a condensation cloud the develops in the core of a tornado and is usually the most distinct visible feature of the tornado. It is generally characterized by being wider at the top, where it connects to the cloud base, than at the bottom.

In the picture linked below, it is the narrow cone shape stretching from the clouds to the ground.

When two tornadoes run into each other, they can either combine to form a larger and stronger tornado, or they can weaken and dissipate due to conflicting wind patterns and pressures. The outcome depends on various factors such as the size, strength, and direction of each tornado.

Closets are small spaces. In larger rooms the may be fairly large spans where on wall is not supported by other walls, making it more likely to collapse, exposing anyone in the room to the wind and debris of the tornado. In a small room or closet the close together walls help to hold each other in place.

Yes. A tornado is not a solid object; it is mostly air. However, the violent winds would likely throw the missile off course.

Some researchers have attempted to fire instruments into tornadoes on missiles, but failed as the light missiles were tossed aside by the wind. It was suggested that a heavier missile would have better luck, but the researchers on the project could not get approval to use one.

Other than for research there would be little use in firing a missile into a tornado, as any explosive strong enough to possibly disrupt a tornado would only cause more damage.

The wind speed in the eye of a tornado is typically calm or very light, often less than 15 mph. This calm area is surrounded by the intense winds of the tornado's eyewall, which can reach speeds of over 200 mph.

It's possible but will never be done because it is extremely dangerous.

You would need to use a nuclear bomb to make even the slightest effect against a tornado. If the bomb is detonated in the air, it can equalise the hot and cold air causing the tornado, causing it to fizzle out.

However, the power of the tornado will disperse the nuclear explosion over several hundred miles, killing millions of people, wiping out plant life and poisoning water and food supplies.

You're better off letting the tornado do its thing and disperse naturally, bombing it will make matters worse either way.

Nature is the one thing man will never have any control over.

The Fujita scale measures tornadoes according to the damage they inflict on objects on the ground. An estimated wind speed is attached to each rating, but it is the observed damage that classifies a tornado according to the Fujita scale.

An F0 tornado causes light damage; it may snap branches from trees or uproot trees with shallow roots, or cause damage to chimneys or signboards.

An F1 tornado causes moderate damage; it may peel surfaces off roofs or push mobile homes off their foundations, or push moving cars from the road.

An F2 tornado causes significant damage; roofs may be torn from frame houses and mobile homes may be demolished, or large trees may be uprooted or snapped. F2 tornadoes will also generate light-object missiles.

An F3 tornado causes severe damage; roofs and some walls may be torn off of well-constructed homes, trains may be overturned, most trees will be uprooted, or heavy cars lifted from the ground and thrown a good distance.

An F4 tornado causes devastating damage; well-constructed houses may be razed completely, structures with weak foundations may be blown away, and large missiles will be generated.

An F5 tornado causes incredible damage; strong frame houses may be lifted from their foundations and carried considerable distances, automobile-sized missiles can fly through the air, bark may be stripped from trees, or steel reinforced concrete structures badly damaged.

Whether or not a bathtub is porcelain probably would not make a significant difference during a tornado. The type of porcelain from which bathtubs are made would not break in the same way that porcelain dishes can shatter. The important factor is the depth of the tub, and whether the sides are high enough to provide protection from the wind force and from flying objects.

Two main weather conditions exist to create a tornado: instability in the atmosphere and wind shear in the lower atmosphere.

In the case of a tornado, instability refers to the presence of warm air closer to the Earth's surface and cooler air further above the surface. Wind shear refers to instances when the wind direction changes, and wind speed increases, with height. These conditions usually exist only ahead of a cold front and low pressure system, and are especially found in thunderstorms. The spinning motion of tornadoes is often caused by the interaction between the updrafts and downdrafts in the thunderstorm and the wind shear. The conflicting drafts cause the wind shear to tilt, and an upright tornado vortex is formed.

Winds in tornadoes can reach speeds of over 300 mph (482 km/h), making them incredibly destructive and dangerous. The Enhanced Fujita Scale categorizes tornadoes based on their wind speeds, with EF5 tornadoes having the strongest winds.

No, adding high heat in the area of a tornado, or even directly into a tornado, would not stop it.

An F4 tornado can be quite devastating. The typical damage indicator for an F4 tornado is well-constructed houses that are completely leveled. Even structures not impacted by the strongest winds of the tornado are likely to be severely damaged. Although it is not always the case, F4 tornadoes are often quite large, often over a quarter of a mile wide, with a fair number growing to over a mile across. This means that they can create large swaths of damage. In some cases entire towns may be destroyed. Although most tornadoes that go down in history are in the F5 category, a few F4 tornadoes have made the list as well.

A weak tornado, categorized as EF0 or EF1 on the Enhanced Fujita Scale, is likely to cause light damage. These tornadoes have wind speeds between 65-110 mph and can damage trees, signs, and windows, but typically do not cause significant structural damage.

Tornadoes can vary in width, but the narrowest tornadoes can be as thin as a few meters at the ground. These thin tornadoes are often referred to as rope tornadoes because of their slender and elongated shape.

In some cases, Doppler radar is used to measure winds inside a tornado. However, as these measurements are rare and cannot scan ground-level winds, they are not used in ratings. The intensity rating is determined based on analysis of damage.

The severity of the damage. It is a common misconception that it measure wind speed, but in truth, wind speed estimated based on the damage.

In a tornado, air rapidly spirals in toward a center of intense low pressure and then spirals upward. These strong, spiraling winds can cause severe damage. In some cases smaller vortices can develop wind winds up to100 mph faster than the main circulation. This results in a path where the severity of damage seems to vary erratically.

Tornado ratings are based on damage, so the wind speeds for any given rating are estimates. The original estimated wind speed range for an F5 tornado was 261-318 mph. This estimate is now believed to have been too high. Currently, a tornado with estimate winds in excess of 200 mph is rated EF5, though the damage inflicted is the same as that from an F5.

Tornadoes lift objects through the strong upward motion of their rotating winds. As the tornado's winds spin rapidly, they create a low-pressure system that causes air and debris to be lifted off the ground. The powerful wind speeds and rotating motion of the tornado contribute to its ability to lift heavy objects and debris.