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Tornadoes

A tornado or twister is a violent, rotating column of air which typically has a speed ranging from 177 km/h to over 480 km/h. This devastating windstorm is usually characterized by its funnel-shaped cloud that extends toward the ground.

8,901 Questions

What causes a funnel cloud?

Afunnel cloud is a funnel-shaped cloud of condensed water droplets, associated with a rotating column of wind and extending from the base of a cloud (usually a cumulonimbus or towering cumulus cloud) but not reaching the ground or a water surface. A funnel cloud is usually visible as a cone-shaped or needle like protuberance from the main cloud base. Funnel clouds form most frequently in association with supercell thunderstorms.

If a funnel cloud touches the ground it becomes a tornado. Most tornadoes begin as funnel clouds, but many funnel clouds do not make ground contact and so do not become tornadoes. Also, a tornado does not necessarily need to have an associated condensation funnel---if strong cyclonic winds are occurring at the surface (and connected to a cloud base, regardless of condensation), then the feature is a tornado. Some tornadoes may appear only as a debris swirl, with no obvious funnel cloud extending below the rotating cloud base.

A funnel cloud that touches down on, or moves over water is a waterspout.

Are the twister sister tornadoes real?

Yes, a super cell thunderstorm can produce more than one tornado simultaneously. Although it's a very rare occurrence. In addition, in rare instances, a tornado may have two or more funnels.

At what time of the year are tornadoes most likely to form?

Most tornadoes form from thunderstorms. You need warm, moist air from the Gulf of Mexico and cool, dry air from Canada. When these two air masses meet, they create instability in the atmosphere. A change in wind direction and an increase in wind speed with increasing height creates an invisible, horizontal spinning effect in the lower atmosphere. Rising air within the updraft tilts the rotating air from horizontal to vertical. An area of rotation, 2-6 miles wide, now extends through much of the storm. Most strong and violent tornadoes form within this area of strong rotation.

How do scientist predict where a tornado will hit?

Meteorologists usually have help from Doppler radars. Therefore, it is possible to detect rotation in a storm system. This rotation indicates a high probability of finding tornadoes in the area. However, meteorologists can also look for favorable conditions. For example, thunderstorms with tornadoes often develop in warm, moist air in advance of eastward-moving cold fronts. However, tornado predictions are still imprecise.

What cloud do twisters come from?

Twisters, also known as tornadoes, come from intense thunderstorms that form within a specific type of cloud called a supercell. These supercells have powerful updrafts and rotating air that can lead to the formation of a tornado under the right atmospheric conditions.

How are tornadoes started?

Tornado development begins when wind shear, wind blowing in different directions at different altitudes, starts air rolling horizontally. This horizontally rolling air can then get turned vertical by a thunderstorm. The updraft of the storm then starts rotating as a result, becoming a mesocyclone. Under the right conditions a downdraft can wrap around the mesocyclone, tightening and intensifying it to form a tornado.

Is a hurricane or tornado several yards in diameter?

A tornado is typically several yards to several hundred yards in diameter.

A hurricane is several hundred miles in diameter.

What data and patterns do meteorologists use to measure the intensity and predict the impact of catastrophic events such as flooding hurricanes and tornadoes?

Different factors are used for each of them, though they do share some in common.

Floods:

Their intensity may be measured either as the rate of water discharge in a stream or height of the surface above flood stage. Discharge rate is used to calculate the expected recurrence rate of a flood. Potential floods are predicted by analyzing how much precipitable moisture (moisture that can fall as rain or snow) is in the atmosphere, and whether the right conditions (e.g. a front) to trigger rain or snowmelt. Analyzing topography is used to predict what areas are at the greatest risk of flooding.

Hurricanes:

Hurricanes are rated into categories based on their sustained wind speeds, which can be used to estimated damage potential. Scientists keep an eye on a number of factors that can either help or hinder a hurricane. They form and strengthen best over very warm ocean water in moist air with little to no wind shear, so the main factors in intensity forecasts for hurricanes are seas surface temperature, humidity, and wind shear. Tracking large scale wind currents and high and low pressure systems allow scientists tor predict the likely path of a hurricane. The behavior of past hurricanes is factored into these predictions. Combined forecast of intensity and path show where a hurricane is likely to hit and how strong it may become.

Tornadoes:

Tornadoes are rated based on wind speed estimates derived from the damage they cause. Like hurricanes and floods, tornadoes and the storms that produce them depend a lot on moisture and temperature. They form best when a cool, dry in mass pushes into a warm, moist one. Wind shear is also important; unlike hurricanes, tornadoes actually need strong wind shear in order to form. Another factor is a layer of stable air called and inversion cap, which can cut both ways; it holds storms back and can prevent them from developing, but when storms do manage to punch through it they be stronger and more likely to produce tornadoes. Short term prediction is also important. The main factor for tornadoes is rotation within a thunderstorm; strong rotation means a very high potential that a tornado will form or has already formed.

Does a Hole in the Clouds mean a tornado will form?

Not necessarily. A hole in the clouds in a strong thunderstorm could indicate a downdraft that can help produce a tornado or it could simply mean you're at the edge of the storm. Even if it is the former scenario, there is no guarantee a tornado will form.

Can tornadoes form anywhere?

Just about. They can occur almost anywhere that gets thunderstorms. Contrary to polular belief tornadoes can and have formed in mountainous areas. A body of water does nothing to stop a tornado. A tornado that moves on to water is called a waterspout.

Do tornadoes go uphill?

Tornadoes typically move in a straight path, rather than following the elevation of the terrain. While tornadoes may appear to move uphill or downhill due to changes in the landscape, their movement is determined by the atmospheric conditions that created them.

How does a marsh absorb tornado or hurricane power?

A marsh does not do anything to affect a tornado's destructive potential, but it can reduce the effects of a hurricane. One of the most destructive parts of the impact of a hurricane is the storm surge, where the winds drive seawater onto land. Marshes reduce the storm surge.

Are there tornado warning signs?

yes, the sky will look either a blueish green or black, the cloud will look either like mountain ranges or they will spin or both, it will be hot or humid then it will get cool fast, it may rain, hail or both, it might not even rain or hail at all, it might sound like a train, jet, or just a constant low rumble kindove like thunder, but constant,and it will be really windy, and make sure that if u have a basement go there, or if you have a bathtub in the middle of your house go there with blankets and pillows and maybe for extra protection put a matress over you too if u have time but u will most likely not have enought time to drag a matress in the bathroom..

What kind of tornado severely damages large buildings and cars have been lifted and overturned and structures with weak foundations blown away?

That type of tornado would be classified as an EF3 to EF5 on the Enhanced Fujita Scale. These tornadoes are capable of causing severe destruction to well-built structures, lifting cars, and completely destroying buildings with weak foundations. The wind speeds in these tornadoes can exceed 136 mph, causing widespread devastation along their paths.

Does it rain when a tornado comes?

Tornadoes are often accompanied by severe thunderstorms, which can bring heavy rain as well. However, the rain associated with tornadoes is typically localized to the immediate vicinity of the tornado, rather than widespread.

What was the size of the 1974 Xenia tornado?

The 1974 Xenia tornado was classified as an F5 on the Fujita scale and had a path width of approximately 1,300 yards (1.2 km) at its widest point. It caused widespread devastation in the town of Xenia, Ohio, and was one of the deadliest tornadoes in U.S. history.

What is the difference between a tsunami cyclone typhoon tornado hurricane and whirlpool?

A whirlpool is virtually any vortex that forms in water, usually sucking water inward and downward. They usually result either from a draining body of water, usually man made, or from interactions between flowing water and underwater features.

A tsunami is a large ocean wave or series of waves typically triggered by an underwater earthquake or landslide. Less frequently they can be caused by a volcanic eruption or meteor impact. They are not like regular waves, which wash in and out in a few seconds, but come as massive surges of water that keep coming in for several minutes. Like whirlpools, tsunamis are not weather related.

A cyclone is a large scale, rotating low pressure weather system in the atmosphere. The rotating air is drawn inwards and upwards. A typical cyclone is several hundred miles across. They can bring thunderstorms, rain, and/or snow depending on the type, season, and intensity. Some may also bring strong wind, but not always. There are three main types of cyclone: tropical, mid-latitude (also called extratropical), and polar.

Typhoons and hurricanes are essentially the same thing, both falling under the category of tropical cyclones. They are defined as tropical cyclones with sustained winds of at least 74 mph (119 km/h). The only difference is that such a storm in the Atlantic or eastern Pacific is called a hurricane, while one in the western Pacific (west of the International Date Line) is called a typhoon.

A tornado is a violently rotating vortex of air extending from the base of a thunderstorm to the ground. Tornadoes share some characteristics with cyclones, such as cyclonic rotation. However while cyclones are independent weather systems hundreds of miles across tornadoes are dependent on a parent thunderstorm and are rarely over a mile wide. This means that tornadoes are actually quite small in weather terms. Addition, while not all cyclones are violent or severe, a tornado is violent by definition.

Does a middle latitude cyclone have a steeper pressure gradient than a tornado?

No. A tornado produces the steepest pressure gradient of any weather phenomenon. An intense mid-latitude cyclone might have an overall pressure deficit comparable to a weak tornado, but that pressure gradient is spread out over several hundred miles. A tornado produces at least that much of a pressure drop over only a few hundred feet.

At what temperature do tornadoes occur?

Based on storm chaser roger hill,s tornadoes 58 degrease is about the coolest tempture that a tornado could hit in. Though there has been other rumers that tornadoes have struck even when it was cooler. No one really know,s for sure.

The NWS shows ground temps as low as 36; the air above the ground can be much more humid and warmer. So that will influence the formation more than the actual ground temp.

What causes the most deaths each year hurricanes tornadoes or lighting strikes?

i assume hurricanes cause more deaths since I know for a fact that more people die of lightening strikes than shark attacks and there aren't very many of them. Sorry if this doesn't help. try searching 'natural disasters'.

NRBB

How do storm chasers avoid or fight chasers?

Storm chasers typically try to avoid other storm chasers by communicating with each other about their intended locations and ensuring they spread out to cover more ground. In case of conflict, they generally try to maintain professionalism and respect each other's space to safely observe and document the storm.

Where the name tornado comes from?

The word tornado is an altered form of the Spanish word tronada, which means "thunderstorm." This in turn was taken from the Latin tonare, meaning "to thunder". It most likely reached its present form through a combination of the Spanish tronada and tornar ("to turn"); however, this may be a folk etymology.[6][7] A tornado is also commonly referred to as a twister, and is also sometimes referred to by the old-fashioned colloquial term cyclone.[8] The term "cyclone" is used as a synonym for "tornado" in the often-aired 1939 film, The Wizard of Oz. The term "twister" is also used in that film, along with being the title of the 1996 film Twister

Do tornadoes form in the same cloud that bring thunderstorms?

Yes, tornadoes can form within the same cloud system as thunderstorms. Tornadoes typically develop from severe thunderstorms known as supercells, which are characterized by rotating updrafts. When conditions are right, the rotating updraft can intensify into a tornado.

Can tornadoes be assoicated with hurricanes?

Tornadoes can be associated with hurricanes, particularly in the outer bands of the storm. These tornadoes are typically weaker and shorter-lived compared to traditional tornadoes. The conditions within hurricanes, such as strong winds and a changing weather environment, can sometimes create the necessary conditions for tornado formation.

Why is it important to avoid rooms with windows during a tornado?

If the glass breaks, the pieces become projectiles and could be quite harmful to human life and/or cause great injury. Nobody would want to be in a room where pieces of glass were swirling about in an uncontrollable fashion.