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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
Do hurricanes tornadoes and typhoons harm the Florida panhandle?
Hurricanes and tornadoes have caused damage in the Florida panhandle.
A typhoon is essentially the same thing as a hurricane, but the term is used exclusively to describe a hurricane that occurs in the western Pacific Ocean.
What do tornadoes thunderstorms and hurricanes have in common?
They are all storms that can produce strong, potentially damaging winds, are accompanied by low pressure, and result from convection. Tornadoes are more an indirect result since they are a product of strong thunderstorms.
Has anyone survived inside a tornado funnel?
It is extremely unlikely for someone to survive inside a tornado funnel due to the violent winds and debris. Tornado funnels have winds that can exceed 200 mph and are capable of causing catastrophic damage. It is safer to seek shelter in a sturdy building or underground during a tornado.
Is there going to be a tornado jockey 2?
most likely not because tornado jockey, although fun and awesome, was not one of its company's money makers. It is also pretty much endless which would eliminate the reason for a sequel so basically they could just do something like a Hurricane Jockey which would be a branch off of Tornado Jockey.
Are tornadoes and earthquakes different?
Yes. Tornadoes and earthquakes are two completely different things. A tornado is a violently rotating column of air extending from the base of a thunderstorm to the ground. It causes damage with its powerful winds and debris carried by those winds.
An earthquake is a shaking of the earth's crust. They cause damage by shaping, warping, liquefying, and fracturing the ground beneath buildings.
Why do tornadoes and hurricanes need moist air to develop?
Moist air is air that contains a large amount of water vapor. It takes a lot of energy to turn water into water vapor, and the same amount of energy gets released when it condenses back into a liquid. It is this energy released by condensation that powers thunderstorms and hurricanes. So in simple terms, moist air holds a lot of latent energy to power storms.
Dry air, by contrast holds much less energy, or at least much less that can go in to powering weather systems.
What weather conditions may cause hurricanes and tornadoes?
Hurricanes form when clusters of thunderstorms move over tropical ocean water. These clusters then organize and intensify.
Tornadoes most often form when thunderstorms encounter strong wind shear, which is when the speed and/or direction of the wind changes with altitude. The storms themselves usually occur when air masses of very different temperature and/or moisture content collide.
Which of the following would be most useful for determining the presence of a tornado?
A weather radar would be most useful for determining the presence of a tornado. Radar can detect the rotation and intensity of a storm, providing valuable information to meteorologists about potential tornado formation. Additionally, monitoring weather alerts and updates from trusted sources can help in being aware of tornado warnings in your area.
If you have not basement and no windowless rooms the bathroom is probably your best bet, particularly in a bathtub. If you live in a manufactured home you should abandon the home for a more sturdy structure.
What do tornadoes tell us about the earth?
Tornadoes are a natural phenomenon that occur due to the clash of warm and cold air masses in the atmosphere. They can indicate areas of unstable weather conditions and the presence of strong wind shear. Studying tornadoes can help us understand weather patterns, improve forecasting, and potentially mitigate the impact of these destructive events.
Where do you go during a tornado if you don't have a basement?
If you don't have a basement during a tornado, seek shelter in an interior room on the lowest level of your home, such as a bathroom or closet. Stay away from windows and protect yourself with heavy furniture or mattresses. If possible, consider installing a tornado shelter or safe room for future storms.
What is the analogy rain is to shower as tornado is to what?
Tornado is to hurricane. Both involve violent wind and weather conditions on a larger scale compared to rain and shower.
The pressure ina hurricane and in a tornado?
The pressure in a hurricane typically ranges from around 950 to 970 millibars at the center of the storm, known as the eye. In contrast, the pressure in a tornado rapidly drops at its center, but measurements vary widely and are often difficult to obtain due to the rapidly changing nature of tornadoes.
How long do twisters stay on land?
Tornadoes can stay on land for anywhere from a few seconds to several hours, depending on various factors such as size, strength, and terrain. On average, tornadoes typically last for about 10-15 minutes.
What is the strongest type of tornado?
There are two main types of tornado.
Type 1 tornadoes, more often called supercell tornadoes, are the most common and strongest type, on occasion reaching EF4 or EF5 intensity. These tornadoes are produce from the mesocyclone of a supercell.
Type 2 tornadoes are less common. They are usually called landspouts or waterspouts depending on where they occur (though type 1 tornadoes can become tornadic waterspouts). These tornado form in association with developing thunderstorms. They rarely exceed EF0 or EF1 intensity, though on a few occasions have attained EF3 strength.
There are other tornado like circulations that are technically not tornadoes such as gustnadoes, dust devils, fire whirls, and a steam devil. The latter are less vicious.
Yes there are two main types of tornadoes.
Classic tornadoes form from the mesocyclone of a supercell.
landspouts, which are generally weaker than typical tornadoes or from war, rotating air under a developing thunderstorm.
A third phenomenon, known as a gustnado occurs in the gust front or outflow area of a storm. Although these vortices can cause damage their classification as tornados is disputed.
Does condensation cause tornadoes?
Condensation is not the direct cause of tornadoes. Tornadoes form as a result of severe thunderstorms in the presence of strong wind shear and atmospheric instability. However, condensation within a thunderstorm can contribute to the development of the rotating updraft that is necessary for tornado formation.
Do tornadoes really explode houses?
Tornadoes can cause significant damage to houses by generating powerful winds and debris that can impact and destroy buildings. While they don't technically "explode" houses, the intense pressure differences and debris carried by a tornado can lead to roofs being torn off, walls collapsing, and structures being severely damaged or destroyed.
Why does a tornado sometimes damage one house and not the other house next to it?
Some tornadoes, called multiple vortex or multivortex tornadoes, have smaller suction vortices, sort of mini-twisters, moving around in side of them. These suction vortices have stronger winds and can sometimes do much worse damage than the winds in the rest of the tornado. Sometimes these vortices are only a few yards wide.
Yes, China does experience tornadoes, particularly in the eastern and southern regions of the country during the spring and summer months. These tornadoes are typically weaker and less frequent compared to those in the United States.
What causes tornadoes hurricanes typhoons and cyclones?
The formation of tornadoes is complicated.
First, a condition called wind shear, in which the speed or direction of the wind changes with altitude. If the shear is strong enough it can essentially tilt a thunderstorm, this separates the updraft and downdraft of the thunderstorm, preventing them from interfering with one another. This allows the storm to become stronger and last longer.
Additionally, if the wind shear is strong enough it can start the air rolling in what is called horizontal vorticity. This horizontal vorticity can then be turned vertical by a thunderstorm's updraft. When this happens, the thunderstorm may start rotating. The rotation is especially strong in an updraft called a mesocyclone. If the storm intensifies rapidly enough, a relatively warm downdraft called a rear-flank downdraft or RFD can wrap around the bottom part of the mesocyclone. This can then tighten and intensify its rotation and bring it down to the ground to produce a tornado.
Hurricanes and typhoons form by a different mechanism. They start of as ordinary cluster of rain showers and/or thunderstorms that move out over warm ocean water. If the air is moist enough and there is little to no wind shear the storm cluster starts to strengthen as it "feeds" on the warm, moist air. As the storm intensifies it also begins to organize and rotate due to the Coriolis Effect. When the circulation becomes closed the system becomes a tropical depression and is classed as a tropical cyclone. When the maximum sustained winds of the storm reach 39 mph the system becomes a tropical storm and is given a name and when winds reach 74 mph it becomes a hurricane or, if it occurs in the western Pacific Ocean, a typhoon.
There are two major types of cyclones: tropical cyclones and extratropical cyclones. The formation of tropical cyclones is described above.
For information on extratropical cyclones, see the link below.
Can tornadoes break solid brick walls?
Yes, powerful tornadoes can break solid brick walls. Tornadoes can generate extreme wind speeds and destructive forces that can easily topple structures made of brick, especially if the walls are not properly reinforced or supported.
What is the classic answer for how tornadoes form and why it is wrong?
The classic answer for how tornado form states that warm and cold air come together and swirl up, or something to that effect.
Many tornadoes are associated with cold fronts (where cooler air pushes into warmer air) and on occasion are associated with warm fronts (where cold air retreats and warm air comes in. However the front is not the direct cause of the tornado. The front lifts the warmer air which, if there is enough instability, can trigger thunderstorms. Given a few other conditions such as wind shear these storms can start to rotate and potentially produce tornadoes.
However, these storms do not necessarily form along a warm or cold front. Many tornadic thunderstorms form along a dry line, where dry air pushes into moist air with relatively little temperature difference. In fact a dry line is often better at producing tornadic storms than a cold front is. Tornadoes can also form in the thunderstorms generated by tropical cyclones (hurricanes, tropical storms etc.) where there are no notable boundaries such as those discussed above. On rare occasions tornadoes can form with thunderstorms that develop in the absence of an organized system. However such tornadoes are short lived and weak.
What tornado hit Pennsylvania on June 1st and 2end of 1998?
There were 21 tornadoes in Pennsylvania on June 1 and 2 1998.
The only killer among these was an F3 northwest of Scranton that killed 2, injured 15 and caused over $2 million in damage.
The strongest of these tornadoes was a very large F4 that caused $5.5 million in damage and injured 5.
What effect can a tornado have on property?
A tornado can cause significant damage to property by uprooting trees, shattering windows, tearing off roofs, and even leveling entire structures. The strong winds associated with a tornado can also cause debris to become airborne, leading to additional damage. Overall, the impact of a tornado on property can be devastating.
How bad do tornadoes hurt people and houses?
For people, harm may range anywhere from minor injuries to death. The may also me physiological or emotional harm from the loss of belongings of a loved one. Harm to a house may range from minor roof damage to the complete obliteration of even the strongest houses.
