Tornadoes

The average tornado is about 50-200 feet wide and can vary in height from a few feet to over a mile, with an average height of about 100 feet. However, tornadoes can range greatly in size, with some reaching widths of over a mile and heights of several miles.

Yes, tornadoes typically form within a supercell thunderstorm. Supercells are large, rotating thunderstorms that have the ideal conditions for tornado formation, such as strong wind shear and instability in the atmosphere. Tornadoes can develop within the rotating updraft of a supercell.

Such a hurricane would be a category 5 as would any hurricane with winds over 156 mph. However, no hurricane has been confirmed to have such winds. It has been suggested that Hurricane Camille may have had such winds, but we don't really know as that storm destroyed all wind instruments in its path.

Tornadoes most often come out of the southwest.

Supercell thunderstorms are the most likely type to spawn tornadoes. These thunderstorms are characterized by a rotating updraft, creating an environment conducive for tornado development. Supercells account for the majority of strong and violent tornadoes in the United States.

Tornadoes typically form in environments with warm, moist air at the surface and cool, dry air aloft. While tornadoes can form in various temperatures, they are more common in warmer climates due to the instability and a greater temperature difference between the surface and upper atmosphere that can lead to the development of severe thunderstorms and tornadoes.

Tornadoes require wind shear and thunderstorms (which can form under a number of circumstances) to occur.

Typically the strong thunderstorms needed for tornadoes to occur form along a dry line or cold front. Tornadoes very often form where a cold front and dry line intersect.

Tornadoes do not follow any predetermined path. That being said, tornadoes in the US tend to occur in advance of, and track parallel to, cold fronts, which means that they often move from southwest to northeast.

No. In fact dues to the sea breeze being near the ocean can actually make it more likely that tornadoes will occur. Florida, for example, rivals Tornado Alley in number of tornadoes per area unit.

No, an updraft is not the middle of a tornado. An updraft is the rising current of air within a storm or tornado that fuels its rotation and strength. The middle of a tornado is called the "eye," which is a calm and clear area surrounded by the rotating winds.

The Fujita scale was created by Dr. Tetsuya Theodore Fujita, a Japanese-American meteorologist known for his research on severe storms and tornadoes. The scale, also known as the Fujita-Pearson scale, categorizes tornado intensity based on damage assessment.

It varies widely. Some tornadoes barely move at all while others may move at over 70 mph. The average tornado moves at about 30 to 35 mph. Wind speeds in a tornado can range from about 60 mph to over 300 mph, with lower values being more common.

In fact, there are three such rating systems.

The first and most famous is the Fujita scale developed in the United States 1971. This scale runs from F0 at the weakest to F5 and the strongest and bases its ratings on damage and provides corresponding wind estimates. Most countries use the Fujita scale to rate tornadoes.

Second is the TORRO scale, developed in the UK in 1975. This scale is like the Fujita scale in that it primarily uses damage to rate tornadoes and even uses similar wind estimates. However this scale has twice as many categories, running from T0 to T11 (T0 and T1 correspond to F0 , while T10 and T11 correspond to F5). It is primarily used in the UK and a few other European countries.

Finally there is the Enhanced Fujita scale developed in the United States in 2007. It is a more sophisticated version of the Fujita scale, with better defined damage descriptions and adjusted wind estimates and runs from EF0 to EF5. So far only the United States and Canada use the Enhanced Fujita scale.

Yes, tornadoes can occur in Calgary, Alberta. While they are not as common as in other parts of the province, tornadoes have been known to touch down in the Calgary area. It is important for residents to be prepared and have a plan in case of severe weather.

The three main features of a tornado are the violent winds, the condensation funnel, and the debris cloud.

Tornadoes are associated with cumulonimbus clouds, which are large, dense, towering clouds that can extend high into the atmosphere. These clouds often exhibit characteristics such as anvil tops and strong updrafts, which are conducive to the formation of tornadoes.

Tornadoes form in the sky within severe thunderstorms. They develop when warm, moist air rises rapidly and interacts with cooler, drier air at higher altitudes, creating a rotating column of air. Once this rotating column descends and touches the ground, it becomes a tornado.

Doppler radar is a special type of radar used by meteorologists to detect the rotation within thunderstorms that may produce tornadoes. This radar can track the wind movement within a storm and provide early warning signs of possible tornado formation.

The tornado (or more properly, waterspout) was not given a name as tornadoes are not named.

Tornadoes in the Northern Hemisphere typically move from southwest to northeast, while tornadoes in the Southern Hemisphere tend to track from northwest to southeast. However, tornadoes can move in any direction depending on the specific weather conditions present during the storm.

Tornadoes are most likely to occur in a region known as Tornado Alley, which includes parts of the central United States like Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, and Nebraska. These areas experience frequent tornadoes due to the clash of warm, moist air from the Gulf of Mexico with cool, dry air coming from the Rockies.

Studying tornados is important for understanding their development, behavior, and potential impacts on society. This knowledge can help improve tornado forecasting, warning systems, and emergency preparedness, ultimately saving lives and reducing property damage.

The low hanging cloud base that spawns tornadoes is called a wall cloud. Wall clouds are often associated with severe thunderstorms and can be a precursor to tornado formation.

There are two major reasons. The first is that we do not fully understand how tornadoes work. We do not know why some storms produce tornadoes while others don't.

Second, tornadoes are small-scale, short-lived weather phenomena, and so are influenced by small-scale minute influences in the atmosphere that are difficult or impossible to measure. A small shift in the wind a mile above the ground can affect where a tornado will touch down.

This is a problem because the difficulty in predicting tornadoes makes it difficult to send out accurate warnings. If an area is not warned properly or early enough, some people might not make it to safety in time, which can lead to more people being killed or injured. In addition, there are many false alarms, which leads to people not heeding warnings, thus putting themselves at greater risk.

"Since records began" is a phrase that is used to refer to a specific period of time dating back to when official records or measurements first began to be documented. It usually suggests that the information or data being referred to is being considered within the context of recorded history or available records.