Tornadoes

The Joplin tornado was generate by a supercell thunderstorm associated with a storm system moving slowly across the Midwest. A downdraft within the usually strong supercell caused the storm's rotation to tighten and intensify into a violent tornado.

No, tornadoes cannot be upside down. Tornadoes are vertical rotating columns of air that stretch from the base of a thunderstorm to the ground, with the strongest winds typically occurring near the surface.

Tornadoes are monitored using a variety of tools, including radar systems that can detect rotating storms, weather satellites for tracking storm development, and on-the-ground storm spotters who report tornado sightings to authorities. The data collected from these sources is used to issue warnings and alerts to communities in the path of the tornado.

Tornadoes most often form where cool dry air and warm moist air collide. This does not directly produce tornadoes but rather produces the thunderstorms that, given a few other factors, can sometimes produce tornadoes. Additionally, such a meeting of air masses is not absolutely necessary for tornadoes to form.

Cumulus clouds can develop into cumulonimbus clouds, which are usually thunderstorms. All thunderstorms contain an updraft, which is a rising air current. Under the right conditions this updraft can start rotating, becoming a mesocyclone. The thunderstorm is now called a supercell. Sometimes the bottom of the mesocyclone can tighten and intensify to produce a tornado.

Tornadoes form when thunderstorms (usually from a collision of air masses of different temperatures and/or dew points) encounter wind shear, which is when wind speed and/or direction change with altitude. This creates horizontally rolling air that can be tilted vertical by a thunderstorm updraft. The updraft takes on this rotation to become a mesocyclone. Under the right conditions this mesocyclone can tighten and intensify to form a tornado.

Se the links below for the formation of tropical and extratropical cyclones. Ignore the parts about mesocyclones and tornadoes as they technically are not cyclones.

Occasionally, but it is very rare and when we do have them, they are usually out towards White Sands. I have lived here for almost ten years and historically, if the storm cell is moving towards Alamogordo from Las Cruces or El Paso it is more likely to be more severe than a storm cell coming over the mountains because there is a lot o space to gain strength in the wide open spaces. I am not a meteorologist, I am just a local woman that likes to take note of the weather :-). I hope this helps!

Tornadoes in California are rare but not impossible. They typically occur during the winter and spring months, especially in the Central Valley and southern regions. While it's challenging to predict exactly when another tornado might occur, meteorologists continue to monitor conditions that could potentially lead to tornado formation.

Yes, Iowa experiences tornadoes. It is part of the region known as Tornado Alley in the central United States, where tornadoes are more frequent due to weather patterns and topography. Iowa typically sees tornadoes during the spring and summer months.

Both tornadoes and jet streams are air currents that move rapidly in a specific direction. Both are driven by differences in temperature and pressure in the atmosphere. However, tornadoes are more localized and destructive compared to the larger and more consistent jet streams that flow at high altitudes.

The Tuscaloosa-Birmingham tornado of April 27, 2011 was part of an extremely large and intense tornado outbreak. A powerful, slow-moving low pressure system moved across the eastern half of the United States. The system pulled warm, moist, unstable air from the Gulf of Mexico over a large portion of the United States. At the same time the jet stream, which was interacting in with the system, set up strong wind shear, differences in wind speed and direction with altitude. A cooler air mass came in behind the system, generating a cold front. As the cooler air pushed into the unstable air mass it generated thunderstorms. The strong wind shear set these storms rotating, turning them into supercells, the storms most likely to produce tornadoes. Conditions were favorable for tornadoes across a large portion of the United States, but were especially favorable for large, destructive tornadoes across portions of Mississippi, Tennessee, and Georgia, and were most favorable over the northern half of Alabama. The most powerful supercells developed in this region, producing numerous tornadoes of EF4 and EF5 intensity. One of these supercells produced a violent EF4 (possibly EF5) tornado that moved through Tuscaloosa and the northern suburbs of Birmingham.

Tornadoes can vary in width from as little as 10 yards to over a mile wide. The length of a tornado can range from a few hundred yards to over 50 miles, with most tornadoes typically travelling a path of a few miles.

Tornadoes usually form over land rather than over bodies of water like oceans. However, if certain weather conditions are met, waterspouts can form over the ocean. Waterspouts are essentially tornadoes that form over water.

The direction of a tornado can vary, but tornadoes in Missouri often come from the southwest or west due to the prevailing weather patterns in the region.

Tornadoes are most likely to form in severe thunderstorms that have a combination of warm, moist air at the surface and cool, dry air aloft. The collision of these air masses can create the necessary conditions for the formation of a tornado. Additionally, strong wind shear and atmospheric instability play a key role in tornado development.

Tornadoes can occur at any time of the year, but they are most common in the spring and early summer months. The frequency of tornadoes varies depending on the region, with some areas experiencing more tornadoes than others. On average, the United States sees about 1,000 tornadoes each year.

The sky can turn green or brownish-gray during a tornado because of the way light interacts with the storm's clouds and precipitation. This color change may be due to the scattering of sunlight by the water droplets or debris within the storm, giving the sky a unique hue. It's a warning sign that severe weather is approaching.

Tornadoes are a natural result of atmospheric conditions such as temperature, humidity, and wind patterns combining in a specific way. While they can be destructive, they also play a role in balancing Earth's energy and moisture, aiding in maintaining our planet's climate system.

No, tornadoes can form in any direction, including from the north, east, south, or west. The direction a tornado forms depends on various weather conditions and is not limited to one specific direction.

Yes, tornadoes are commonly located in the leading edge of a supercell thunderstorm. This is typically where the conditions are most favorable for the development of a tornado, such as strong updrafts and wind shear.

On average, about 60-70% of tornadoes occur at night. This is because tornadoes can form at any time of day or night, but the atmospheric conditions that are conducive to tornado development may be more prevalent during the overnight hours.

The main tool meteorologists use is Doppler radar, which can detect a tornado or the rotation in a storm that can produce them. There are also spotters, who report sightings of tornadoes and other weather hazards.

It is not known for certain, but a likely candidate was the tornado that hit Seneca, Kansas on May 27, 1896. At one point the tornado was 2.2 miles wide.

The largest tornado ever recorded was the El Reno, Oklahoma tornado of May 31, 2013, measured at one point to be 2.6 miles wide. This tornado was officially rated EF3 as it was over open country when it reached peak intensity and so caused relatively little damage at that point. Radar analysis, however, suggests that it may have reached EF5 intensity.

No. The longest a tornado has been known to last is 3 hours, 29 minutes. However a tornado outbreak, which is a series of tornadoes spawned by one storm system, can last for a full day or more.

Tornadoes are typically measured on the Enhanced Fujita (EF) scale, which ranges from EF0 (weakest) to EF5 (strongest) based on the tornado's intensity and damage it causes. The EF scale takes into account observed damage to estimate the wind speeds of a tornado.