Tornadoes

A more accurate answer. Contrary to popular belief, tornadoes can pass over mountains and valleys without weakening. However, rough terrain can disrupt the ability of storms to organize, making it more difficult for tornadoes to form. Mountains can also block the movement of moisture necessary for storm formation in what is called the rain shadow effect. That tornadoes are so common on the Great Plains has more to do with climate than with topography. There is also a bias created by our ability to photograph tornadoes Major tornado outbreaks are not uncommon in hilly areas of Kentucky, Tennessee, and Alabama, but the tornadoes in this region are often shrouded in rain or blocked from view by hills and trees, resulting in fewer photographs. By contrast, the tornadoes of the Great Plains are less likely to be blocked from view, providing ample opportunity for clear pictures.

If a thunderstorm is capable of producing a tornado in the immediate future or if a tornado has been detected then a tornado warning is issued. If general conditions are favorable for tornadoes but there is not necessarily an immediate threat, then a tornado watch is issued.

Tornado alley is the area where more tornadoes occur, typically in the Midwest. The reason why there are so many tornadoes is because the cold dry air from Canada and The Rocky Mountains meet with the warm moist air from the Gulf of Mexico and Sonoran Desert, which causes atmospheric instability, which ultimately produces fierce thunderstorms.

That varies. If you are close enough to be in the area of the tornado's inflow then the wind will blow almost directly towards the tornado, perhaps a little to the right of that direction. In that case the wind direction will depend on where the tornado is relative to you.

If you are beyond the inflow area for the tornado, then nothing about the wind direction would indicate the approaching tornado.

No. It was once believed that the low pressure inside a tornado would cause houses to explode, but this notion was disproven by the 1990s. It is the wind and debris in a tornado that destroys houses, not the low pressure.

• Tornadoes are rated on the Enhanced Fujita scaled based on the severity of the damage they inflict. Ratings range from EF0 for the weakest tornadoes to EF5 for the strongest.
• Some tornadoes contain multiple smaller vortices which can sometimes give a tornado two or more funnels.
• Strange phenomena have occurred during tornadoes. One tornado tore a wall from a house but left pottery in place on a shelf against that wall. Others have lifted houses from their foundations while causing little damage to them and still others have left objects such as forks, straws, and vinyl records stuck in trees and utility poles.

A ground via is a type of via used in printed circuit boards (PCBs) to connect a signal or component on one layer to the ground plane on another layer. This helps to provide a low impedance path for returning currents and preventing signal interference. Ground vias are essential for maintaining signal integrity and reducing electromagnetic interference in high-speed digital circuits.

The highest rating a tornado can attain is EF5. Tornadoes this strong will wipe well-constructed houses clean off their foundations. Tornadoes rated EF4 and EF5 are often quite large and can completely destroy towns and neighborhoods.

A sand tornado is not a true tornado but a phenomenon called a dust devil. A dust devil takes for form of a whirling cloud of dust as dust is sucked up by the vortex. It may appear tubelike and gradually fades into nothing farther up.

3.5 hours

A tornado is a violently rotating column of air and therefore part of the atmosphere.

Glitter is used in a tornado in a bottle to make the swirling motion of the liquid more visible and interesting to observe. The glitter particles help to make the movement of the liquid more visible as it mimics the look of a swirling tornado.

Winds vary widely in tornadoes. The minimum estimated winds for an EF0 tornado are 65 mph while the upper limit for tornado strength is believed to be just over 300 mph.

The majority of tornadoes have winds of 110 mph or less (EF0 and EF1). The tornadoes that cause the most damage have estimated winds over 135 mph (EF3-EF5).

The F-scale, or Fujita scale, helped scientists study tornado intensity by providing a way to categorize tornadoes based on the damage they caused. By analyzing the damage pattern caused by tornadoes of different intensities, scientists were able to better understand the characteristics and behavior of tornadoes and improve their forecasting and warning systems.

It is estimated that the Tri-state tornado destroyed approximately 15,000 homes, which would have accounted for the majority of the buildings destroyed.

Tornadoes and earthquakes kill animals the same way they kill people. Tornadoes kill with objects carried, dropped, or knocked over by their winds and by picking up and throwing the victims themselves. Earthquakes kill by collapsing buildings, knocking objects over, and triggering landslides.

It would be highly unusual for a tornado to strike an area where there is snow on the ground. Tornadoes generally occur during periods of warm weather. If such an event were to occur it would be little different from a tornado striking under ordinary circumstances. The tornado would likely lift some snow into the air, but that would be of little to no consequence compared with the damage tornadoes usually inflict.

Meteorologists use various techniques to measure tornado wind speeds, such as Doppler radar, damage surveys, or remote sensing instruments. By analyzing these data and environmental conditions, they can estimate the wind speeds of a tornado. Additionally, tornado wind speeds are often inferred based on the damage pattern left behind, as the Enhanced Fujita Scale correlates damage severity with wind speeds.

How long a tornado is over a given location varies depending on how wide the tornado is and how fast it is moving. You can calculate this fairly simply. Once you have the values converted to compatible units (e.g. width in meters and speed in meters/second) you simply divide the width of the tornado by its forward speed to get how long it is over a location.

A typical tornado is about 50 yards (45 meters) wide and moves at 30 mph (13 m/s).

Such a tornado would be over a given spot for about 3.5 seconds.

By contrast, a mile (1,600 meter) wide tornado moving at the same speed would be over a location for 2 minutes.

You can usually expect some degree of damage to vegetation and man-made structures. The severity of the damage can vary widely, ranging from minor damage to roof surfaces to the complete destruction of entire neighborhoods. Damage from tornadoes is localized, extending along a path that is usually no more than a few hundred yards wide, though damage paths well over a mile wide do occur. Because they are much narrower than other storms, tornadoes usually do not affect any one spot for more than a few seconds before moving on, but large or slow moving tornadoes will impact areas for longer. You can generally expect a tornado warning to be issued a few minutes in advance.

There were several major tornado outbreaks in the US in April 2011, but you are most likely referring to the catastrophic outbreak of April 25-28 with most of the damage on April 27. Reliable sources are hard to come by. One article states that approximately 6,200 homes were destroyed in Alabama alone. Alabama suffered about $4.3 billion of the approximately $4.8 billion in damage from the outbreak. If we assume all of these figures are accurate and that the ratio of cost to homes destroyed remains about the same, then we can arrive at a very rough estimate of about 6,900 homes destroyed.

It is not known. Only four storm chasers have ever been killed by a tornado, and all of them were killed in the same event in 2013. One fatal event does not provide enough datato calculate the probability of dying, though it does appear that the chance is very small.

Because tornadoes are actually produced by severe thunderstorms. Therefore, anytime you're dealing with a severe thunderstorm, you have to be alert for the potential of it producing a tornado. Tornadoes are the most dangerous type of event a thunderstorm can produce.

Tornadoes occur in the lower atmosphere, specifically in the troposphere, which is the lowest layer of the atmosphere where weather events typically occur. Hurricanes occur slightly higher up in the troposphere, usually in the lower part of the troposphere where the conditions are conducive for their formation.