Tornadoes

Not all tornadoes are black. There are two ways a tornado may appear black. First, the tornado may be back lit, causing it to appear dark. Some tornadoes lift large amounts of soil into the air. In such a situation, if the soil in an area is black, the tornado will likely be black as well.

There were 26 recorded tornadoes in North Carolina in 2010.

About 96% of tornadoes are given ratings lower than EF3.

Yes. Tornadoes typically form in the afternoon or early evening as that is when the atmosphere is usually most unstable.

In 2012, 13 people were killed in 2 tornadoes in Indiana.

The Goderich, Ontario tornado of August 21, 2011 was notably bad because of its intensity. Most tornadoes achieve an intensity no higher than F1 (on a scale ranging from F0 to F5), capable of causing severe roof damage and destroying some weak structures. The Goderich tornado was an F3, unusually strong for Canada. An F3 tornado is capable of ripping roofs and walls away from sturdy structures and tossing car-sized objects like toys.

The first known tornadic death in the US occurred before the US was even founded as a nation. A servant, whose name is unknown, was killed by a tornado near Cambridge, Massachusetts on July 8, 1680.

Tornadoes effect the environment by destroying buildings and trees. Tornadoes also kill animals, which effects the food chain and disrupts the whole environment. Tornadoes destroy our farms, which means there will be food shortages around the surrounding area. After everything is destroyed, humans have to rebuild. Tornadoes can cause water contamination, which poses a serious problem, as plants, animals and humans are effected by this. Debris can be very dangerous, as it could kill plants and animals very easily. Some trees take over 100 years to grow, so if they are destroyed, they will be hard to replace. Fires may occur after a tornado due to damaged power lines and gas leaks. Fire contributes to global warming by giving off carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Because of man-made global warming, scientists believe that there will be an increases in tornadoes and other severe weather.

The Joplin tornado struck the city of Joplin, which is in the southwestern corner of Missouri in the central United States.

An incredible difference. The only similarity between the two is that they are made natural causes. A tornado is a violently rotating column of air produced by a thunderstorm. A tsunami is a large ocean wave or series of waves produced by a non wind related event. Often that event is an earthquake or a volcanic eruption.

about 31

The Joplin, Missouri tornado of 2011 injured over 1,100 people.

No. Tornadoes do not get names. However, currently, as of October 28, 2012 there is a Hurricane Sandy.

Answer: Tornadoes

Tornadoes do not cause rain but they are usually accompanied by heavy rain. Tornadoes are produced by thunderstorms called supercells. Those same storms often produce torrential rain that poses a flash flooding risk.

The lowest known pressure recorded in a tornado was 688 millibars in a tornado in Tulia, Texas on April 21, 2007.

The terminology here is a bit confused. In weather there are 4 basic types of large-scale air mass: Continental polar air masses come off the land in cold regions and are cool and dry. Maritime polar masses come off the ocean and are cool and somewhat moist. Continental tropical air masses come of the land from warm regions and are warm and dry. Finally maritime tropical masses come off of warm oceans and are warm and moist.

When a continental polar air mass pushes into a maritime tropical air mass it forms a cold front. Since cold air is denser than warm air, the tropical air mass is forced upwards. This can trigger thunderstorms. Under the right conditions these storms can produce tornadoes.

Yes. Some tornadoes aren't very big, though the more destructive ones tend to be large, and the area of the worst winds is often only a small portion of the overall damage path. In some cases it may not even be even a few hundred feet. A tornado may level ones structure and leave the one next to it with only minor damage. This is because some tornadoes contain smaller vortices with winds up to 100 mph faster than the rest of the tornado, which can mean the difference between EF1 (moderate) damage and EF5 (incredible) damage. This may also result from a narrow but very intense tornado.

One of the most jarring examples of this occurred in the F5 tornado that struck the town of Elie, Manitoba. A well built, firmly anchored brick house was ripped from its foundation and thrown several hundred feet, disintegrating in midair. The house next to it only lost part of its roof.

Get under ground as fast as you can.

The word hurricane originates from the Taino Indian word "Huracan" meaning "storm" or "great wind."

The origin of the word tornado is slightly less certain. Most likely it comes from the Spanish word "tronada" meaning "thunderstorm." It may have been combined with "tornar" which means "to turn."

A normal tornado is a violently rotating column of air the descends from the rotating updraft of a thunderstorm. A fire tornado or firewhirl, which is technically not a tornado, is a vortex of smoke and/or flame that forms at ground level from the updraft of an intense fire. Firewhirls can potentially produce winds equivalent to an EF0 or EF1 tornado, but the main threat is their ability to spread a fire further.

If there is a tornado happening right at the moment, you probably will be running to saftey/shelter and not packing clothes.

It is possible, but long term predictions for tornadoes are not possible. If a place is going to be hit, we will know a few minutes in advance.

Yes, though they tend not to be very strong.

No, a tornado is not considered geologic in nature. Tornadoes are atmospheric phenomena that result from weather patterns and conditions, such as thunderstorms and air masses interacting in specific ways to create rotation within a cloud. Geology, on the other hand, deals with the study of the Earth's materials, structures, processes, and history.