Tornadoes

Contrary to popular belief, most tornadoes are not so destructive. Most tornadoes may cause some roof damage or toppled a few trees but aren't strong enough to do much more.

Those tornadoes that do destroy much of what is in their path have winds in the range of 170 mph or more, and in some cases as high as 300 mph. When winds get above 200 mph they carry such force that virtually nothing can withstand them. When buildings are destroyed pieces of them become high-speed projectiles that add further to the destructive potential as wooded beams in some cases travel fast enough to penetrate brick walls.

Most tornadoes are weak and relatively small, and thus rather unstable so outflow from the parent thunderstorm can easily disrupt them. Strong tornadoes, which can be said to be better established, can last 20 minutes or more, sometimes over an hour. But even then a thunderstorm can only maintain conditions for producing ans sustaining tornadoes for a limited period.

Probably not. Tornadoes have been known to take the feathers off chickens, but that is partially the result of something called stress molt, where the feathers of a frightened bird come loose. Tornadoes have also been known to strip the bark from trees, but those are stationary objects, and a tornado strong enough to do that would simply blow a cow away rather than taking off its fur.

However, if a piece of debris where to hit a cow at a high speed it might take some of the skin off, which would take fur with it.

When looking at storm relative velocity, the signature of a tornado, or at least the mesocyclone that produces it will show up as a bright green area next to a bright red area in a relatively small part of the image. This means that strong winds blowing toward the radar are right next to strong winds blowing away from it, indicating a strong rotation.

On a reflectivity image there will often be a hook shape on the radar image, showing where the mesocyclone is pulling the rain around.

See the link below for an example.

Note that these are not what images of the tornado itself looks like, but rather the mesocyclone that produces the tornado. Also note that not all tornadoes have such features on radar, and not all such features correspond to tornadoes.

Tornadoes can reach speeds of up to 300 mph (480 km/h) in extreme cases, typically causing catastrophic damage in their path.

A tornado can form in a matter of minutes and usually lasts a few minutes. Some last just a few seconds while in rare cases a tornado may last few a few hours. A tornado is usually not over any given spot for more than a few second, but a large and/or slow moving one may impact a given location for several minutes.

That is highly variable and there is no single answer. A small but intense tornado can rotate 60 or more times in a minute. At the other end a very large tornado might not even complete a full rotation in a minute, at least on the outside. This if further complicated by the fact that a tornado usually spins faster near its center than at its edges.

There are a number of factors. First, the zone of very destructive winds in a tornado can be very small, so that while the winds in a small portion of some tornadoes can deal a great deal of damage, the area just beyond it might only cause moderate damage. This is especially true of multiple vortex tornadoes, which have smaller vortices (almost like mini tornadoes) inside the main vortex. These vortices can pack winds up to 100 mph faster than the rest of the tornado, which can mean the difference between a house being completely destroyed or just losing part of its roof.

How well-built a house is can also be a factor.

Tornado wind speeds can vary greatly, but they typically spin at speeds between 110 to 300 mph (177 to 483 km/h) at the surface. However, some tornadoes have been known to reach speeds of over 300 mph.

Yes, the Fujita scale measures the intensity of a tornado based on the damage it causes. It rates tornadoes on a scale from F0 (weakest) to F5 (strongest) based on the estimated wind speeds and extent of damage.

Meteorologists use weather radar, such as Doppler radar, to detect tornadoes. These instruments can detect rotation within storms, which can indicate the presence of a tornado. In addition, storm spotters on the ground can visually spot tornadoes and report them to the National Weather Service.

Tornadoes can move in any direction, but on average they travel from southwest to northeast in the United States. The specific path a tornado takes is influenced by various factors such as wind patterns, topography, and storm dynamics.

Tornadoes are typically associated with heavy rainfall, hail, and sometimes lightning. The strong updrafts within a tornado can cause water droplets to be lifted into the cloud where they freeze and form hailstones.

It depends on the tornado. In most tornadoes the strongest winds are near the center. In multivortex tornadoes, however, the strongest winds are in the subvorticies, which are almost like smaller tornadoes within a larger one.

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Both thunderstorms and tornadoes are severe weather events that are capable of producing strong winds and heavy rain. They are both associated with thunder and lightning, and can cause damage to structures and the environment.

Hurricanes produce large waves, heavy rain, and extensive flooding, all of which can cause severe erosion, especially along coasts.

Tornadoes, especially strong ones can lift large amounts of soil into the air and pull vegetation from the ground, leaving the soil vulnerable to further erosion.

Tornadoes can vary in intensity, with wind speeds ranging from 65 mph for weak tornadoes to over 200 mph for violent tornadoes. The Enhanced Fujita Scale (EF-Scale) categorizes tornadoes from EF0 (weakest) to EF5 (strongest), based on observed damage and wind speeds. The most powerful tornadoes (EF4 and EF5) can cause catastrophic damage, leveling well-built houses and even lifting heavy objects like cars and trains.

A tornado is a rapidly rotating column of air that extends from a thunderstorm to the ground. It is often visible in the form of a funnel-shaped cloud and is capable of causing significant damage due to its strong winds. Tornadoes are classified based on the Enhanced Fujita (EF) scale, which ranks them from EF0 to EF5 based on the damage they produce.

It doesn't: that is a myth.

The idea stems from the fact that the pressure inside a tornado is very low and the higher pressure inside a house will cause it to explode unless windows are open to relive pressure.

The truth is that the winds and debris of a tornado are what cause damage, not the pressure difference. Even in a relatively weak tornado that will cause only moderate damage the windows are likely to break anyway. In fact, in the case of a weak tornado or indirect hit that would not break windows, leaving them open allows strong winds to enter the house and cause damage on the inside.

The pressure drop in a tornado is not great enough to cause damage and even then, houses are not airtight, and pressure can equalize on its own fairly quickly. The greatest pressure drops come in the strongest tornadoes, which can easily tear apart a house with their winds regardless of any pressure difference within the structure.

Most tornadoes are produced by and get their energy from thunderstorms called supercells. However, no storm actually creates energy; that would violate the laws of physics. The storms get their energy from warm, moist air that has been heated by the sun.

tornadoes can be stationary, or travel in excess of 65 miles per hour. It all depends on how fast the parent storm is moving.

Usually less than five minutes and often just a few seconds. Strong tornadoes can last for over 20 minutes, sometimes over an hour. The longest a tornado has been known to last was three and a half hours.

This goes back to when the original Fujita or "F" scale developed in 1971. Back then Dr. Fujita developed a means of rating the strength of tornado, in this scale he described 6 basic damage levels (mostly based on damage to houses) from F0 to F5 with accompanying wind speed ranges. Simplified, they are as follows

F0: minor roof and siding damage

F1: severe roof damage

F2: roof torn off

F3: walls collapse

F4: entire house collapses

F5: entire house blown away

Fujita also defined wind values for levels F6 to F12 to correlate wind speed with mach number, but since F5 (complete destruction) is the most severe damage possible these levels were never used, leaving F5 as the highest real rating. The reason the damage levels were defined as F0 to F5 rather than F1 to F6 was likely for two reasons: F0 winds were set at below hurricane force, and our number system is partially based on 5.

When the Enhanced Fujita scale was put into effect in 2007 it carried over essentially the same ratings and damage levels with adjusted wind ranges. Since the F6 and higher ratings were never used, they were simply dropped without a mention.

So if you find that a tornado has been officially rated EF5, it means that well-built structures were completely obliterated.

There is no evidence to suggest that tornadoes are more prevalent near wind farms. Tornadoes are formed by specific atmospheric conditions such as warm, moist air interacting with cold, dry air, whereas wind farms are designed to harness wind energy and do not influence tornado formation.