Tornadoes

No. Tornadoes do not cause flooding.

Tornadoes don't form into thunderstorms, they are produced by thunderstorms. This occurs when the rotating updraft present in some thunderstorms, mostly supercells, tightens, intensifies, and stretches toward the ground.

Tornadoes are not common in Maryland, though they are common in Kansas.

Kansas is part of a region called Tornado Alley.which has an ideal climatic setup for tornadoes. In the spring storm systems cause warm, moist air from the Gulf of Mexico to collide with cool air from Canada and dry air from the Rockies, resulting in the formation of strong thunderstorms. About a mile off the ground a layer of stable air holds thunderstorm activity back, allowing instability to build underneath it. As a result when the storm break through the cap the instability will be enormous, leading to explosively powerful thunderstorms. At the same time wind speed and direction varies with altitude, which sets these storms rotating and also strengthens the updraft. This rotation combined with strong thunderstorm updrafts can then produce tornadoes.

The Great Plains see a high frequency of tornadoes because of their ideal climatic setup. In the spring storm systems cause warm, moist air from the Gulf of Mexico to collide with cool air from Canada and dry air from the Rockies, resulting in the formation of strong thunderstorms. About a mile off the ground a layer of stable air holds thunderstorm activity back, allowing instability to build underneath it. As a result when the storm break through the cap the instability will be enormous, leading to explosively powerful thunderstorms. At the same time wind speed and direction varies with altitude, which sets these storms rotating and also strengthens the updraft. This rotation combined with strong thunderstorm updrafts can then produce tornadoes.

Tornado Alley did not occur. It was not an event. Tornado Alley is a region in the central United States.

Yes. Although isolated tornadoes usually don't get very high intensity ratings, even the weakest category of tornado, EF0, can cause damage.

Global records are not available and only U.S. records can easily be found. Those records show 1,103 tornadoes for the U.S.

The National Weather Service website priides the most reliable information.

As of February 9, 2013 the two most recent confirmed tornado were an unrated isolated tornado in Belgium on February 7, and an EF1 in the U.S. state of Georgia on January 30 that was one of 40 tornadoes to trike the U.s. that day.

Yes. Arkansas has had tornadoes as strong as F4 in March. Among these was the Judsonia, Arkansas tornado of March 21, 1952 which killed 50 people, making it one of the deadliest tornadoes in Arkansas history.

It's useful to the commerce and enterprises of the neighbouring cities that have not been affected by the tornado. The term "useful" is obviously relative, once the unique usefulness is that. However, nobody wants such usefulness.

The term "usefulness" must be changed here to "consequence". I can't imagine how a tornado or another similar event could be useful.

A blanket and a helmet to offer some protection. Often there isn't much time to gather things.

It is the most tornado prone region in the world. The alley part probably comes from the region being longer than it is wide.

You need to get to a safe place, though what the safe place is depends on where you are. If you are at school, at work, or at a store an interior space away from windows and long span ceilings is best. You can go to bathroom, closet, or storage room. People in restaurants have escaped harm by taking shelter in walk-in coolers.

If you are driving, take cover in a sturdy building. If no such shelter is available, you may try to get out of the tornado's path by driving perpendicular or diagonal (depending on what the road allows) to the tornado's direction. If you have any doubts about being able to get out of the path in time, abandon the vehicle and take cover in a ditch. Do NOT take cover under a bridge.

The warm, moist air involved in tornado formation usually comes from a warm body of water. For the United States it is usually the Gulf of Mexico.

It varies widely. The typical path length is between 1 and 2 kilometers. Paths uof under a kilometer are fairly common. However, most destructive tornadoes have longer paths, often more than 30 kilometers. Path lengths over 100 kilometers occur a few times a year. The longest path on record was just over 350 kilometers.

They are not common in Great Britain and the rest of Europe, but they do occur. A tornado in Birmingham, England in July of 2005 destroyed a row of houses, but did not result in any fatalities.

Like any town, Elwood does not have tornadoes every year. Since records began in 1950 Elwood has only had two recorded tornadoes. Two tornadoes is not enough to establish a recurrence rate.

Supercell tornadoes are usually worse. Nearly all F3 and stronger tornadoes form in supercells.

Tornadoes form in thunderstorms, which are composed of cumulonimbus clouds. Usually a tornado will form from a wall cloud that develops are the based of the cumulonimbus cloud, and will develop from a funnel cloud that comes out of the wall cloud.

The most powerful August tornado on record was the Plainfield, Illinois tornado of August 28, 1990. It is the only F5 tornado on record to have struck in August. The tornado killed 29 people and injured 350. Over 300 homes were destroyed and 800 damaged.

They are called storm chasers.

Yes. Since official records began in 1950 there have been 5 recorded tornadoes in Palm Bay.

It is possible but quite unlikely. No F5 or EF5 tornado has ever been recorded in the State of New York, but there have been a few F4 tornadoes. One tornado in Massachusetts in 1953 was possibly an F5.

It depends. Some are worse than others. A tornado may be given a rating of EF2 based solely on damage to trees and power lines. In this case some places may lose power and some roads may be blocked, but most would consider this an inconvenience rather than a disaster.

However, an EF2 tornado can also completely destroy mobile homes and other weak structures and badly damage stronger ones. An EF2 that strikes a trailer park may kill multiple people and leave many more homeless. In such cases the tornado could be considered a disaster.