The Basic Physics of Tornadoes
Conceptualize darting through a field, as the environment becomes stagnant, the sky converts into a deathly green complexion, while hail embarks on a free fall. Fear loiters over one’s vertebra as the infiltrating sound of an alarm roams through the air. The decrepit sound of a freight train is augmenting louder and louder with every passing second. He/She looks around and becomes flabbergasted at the abysmal sight that is a vortex of wind on the horizon! Instinctively this person endeavored to run, but soon realized one could not out run this nightmare. The wind’s intensity increased as he/she felt a vigorous force pull one’s body away from the ground. The tornado’s strength elevated the body as he/she blacked out. Mother Nature’s wrath may be hellish and holds the potential to construct mass devastation. Tornadoes are a catastrophic technique used by nature, but to understand the concept of a twister; one must know the basics of the funnel, including:
1. Fundamental terms
2. What are tornadoes and why do they occur?
3. What are the different types of twisters?
4. When and where do tornadoes often occur and what are the warning signs of a tornado?
The analysis of these questions will grant a profuse amount of information on the basics of a tornado.
Basic Physic Terms /Laws
To Understand Tornadoes
Physics plays an immense role in discovering the development of a tornado. There are terms that need analyzing before one can comprehend how a tornado forms. The first physics law is the Conservation of Angular Momentum. This law helps explain that a rotating object tends to remain rotating with a constant angular momentum unless another force interferes. The next term is Archimedes’ Principle....
... middle of paper ...
...ds much like a train, waterfall or even jets. The sky has the potential to turn a greenish-black color and clouds will be moving rapidly. The final warning sign for a tornado would be a funnel cloud that has not touched down yet.
Although no one has discovered why tornadoes strike, we have gathered information galore about the natural disaster. Tornadoes remain to be one of the scariest formations of weather possible. If one is still not convinced, lets took at history. In 1989, there was a tornado that hit Bangladesh. The results were horrific. There were a total of 1,300 deaths along with 12,000 injuries. These tornadoes are rare, but can still happen, and maybe even stir up worse results. So next time one is aware of a tornado warning (maybe even a tornado watch), one will take the necessary precautions to be safe.
On May 22nd, 2011 a massive tornado hit Joplin, Missouri killing 162 people and injuring 1150. With wind speeds of 322km/h, the tornado made a total cost of over $2 billion for the city. 8000 structures were destroyed, 2000 of which were homes. Many people were left homeless. The tornado held an incredible EF5 rating on the Fujita scale, measured from the amount of destruction. The tragic event lasted 38 minutes, from 5:34 pm to 6:12pm. Cool wind from the Rockies in Canada and warm wind from the gulf of Mexico formed into a supercell thunderstorm creating a tornado in Kansas. The tornado rapidly moved into Joplin and continued on its 35 km path.
Many scientists often find themselves wondering if the tri-state tornado was really a single massive tornado or if it was part of a family of tornadoes that continuously evolve from one supercell to another. Only one factor stands in the way of this theory and that is a cyclical supercell usually has breaks in its destructive path. The tri-state tornado's path of damage appeared to be continuous despite two slight decreases in the destruction. One of which was near the onset of the storm, and one near the demise. No matter which is believed, one thing is for certain, and that is a storm like the tri-state tornado could very well happen again, but there is no telling when or where it may occur.
On May 11, 1953 in the town of Lorena Mclennan County in Central Texas this deadly disaster strikes and damage very thing in its path. This intense spinning of a tornado is partly the result of the updrafts and downdrafts in the thunderstorm interacting with the windshirt.
According to Webster’s Dictionary, a tornado is a rotating column of air accompanied by a funnel shaped downward extension of a cumulonimbus cloud and having a vortex several hundred yards in diameter whirling destructively at speeds of up to three hundred miles per hour. There are six classifications of tornadoes, which are measured on what is known as the Fujita Scale. These tornadoes range from an F0 to an F5, which is the most devastating of all. Abnormal warm, humid, and oppressive weather usually precede the formation of a tornado. Records of American tornadoes date back to 1804 and have been known to occur in every state of the United States.
Tornadoes, also called twisters or cyclones, are a localized, violently destructive windstorm occurring over land, and characterized by a long, funnel-shaped cloud extending toward the ground and made visible by condensation and debris. They come in many different shapes and sizes, but are typical in a funnel formation, where the narrow end makes contact with the earth. Most don’t reach winds over 110 miles per hour (177 km/h) or have a path wider than 250 feet (76m), and most only travel a few miles on ground before dissipating. Although, some can reach winds as high as 300 miles per hour (483 km/h) or higher, have a path that can be as wide as two miles (3.2 km) or more, and can travel for dozens of miles on the ground before dissipating.
Although Greensburg was almost entirely destroyed, the storm helped to reinforce the important role that storm chasers play in the tracking and warning process of severe weather. By having well-trained, experienced people in the field, meteorologists and weather services are better able to track the exact location and characteristics of tornadic events, relaying that information to the public faster and more accurately than ever before.
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)/National Climatic Data Center (NCDC), (2001). U.S. Tornado Climatology. Accessed on 9//27/2011 at http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/oa/climate/severeweather/tornadoes.html#deadly
Tornadoes are devastating atmospheric events that affect the ecology and the lives of people in their paths. Tornadoes are defined as “a violently rotating column of air, in contact with the ground, either pendant from a cumuliform cloud or underneath a cumuliform cloud, and often (but not always) visible as a funnel cloud” (Glossary of Meterology, 2011). The Tri-state tornado was the most deadly tornado in the United States. It stayed on the ground for a total of 219 miles through areas of Missouri, Illinois, and Indiana, killed a total of 695 people, and an estimated $16.5 million in damages (National Weather Service, 2011). Luckily, the tornado’s path was largely rural farmland with scattered small towns between them.
It is also important for emergency managers to educate their community on the difference between the two. A tornado watch means that conditions are favorable for tornadoes to occur. It also means to be on the lookout for severe weather and keep close to weather information sources. But a tornado warning means that a tornado has been indicated by radar or seen by spotters in the area of the warning. It also means that there is a serious threat to people’s lives and property in the affected area. Lastly, it means that you should stay inside a safe place or seek shelter and follow tornado safety guidelines. Wind speeds in a tornado can range from 40 mph to 320
Furthermore, there are many causes of tornadoes. A tornado is a violent rotating column of air extending downward from the base of a thunderstorm, but a tornado is not actually labeled a tornado until it reaches the surface of the ground. Before a tornado occurs, a very severe thunderstorm will more than likely present itself. Before the grave thunderstorm arises, a wall cloud will form in the sky. A wall cloud is an abrupt lowering of a rain-free cumulonimbus base into a low-hanging cloud. A wall cloud is usually situated in the southwest portion of the storm. A rotating wall cloud usually
A tornado is a type of vortex. A vortex is essentially a rotating funnel that occurs from downdrafts that pull a medium, such as air or water, downward. Tornadoes are vortexes, and vortexes happen in day to day life, even if you don’t live in Tornado Alley. An everyday example of a vortex is when you pull the drain of a bathtub or sink and a rotating whirlpool occurs. This is a vortex. Tornadoes occur under this same principle, but with air in thunderstorms instead of water in a bathtub.
A tornado requires some basic ingredients to come together. First, energy in the form of warm, moist air must exist to feed thunder storms. Second, there must be a top layer of hot, dry air called a cap. This air acts like a lid on a simmering pot, holding in the warm air that’s accumulating in the atmosphere below until the storm’s ready to burst. Last, there has to be rotating winds speeding in oppositedirections at two different levels in the atmosphere, a phenomenon called wind shear, can cause the storms to rotate. Tornado alley is perfectly situated to meet these requirements. (1)
Tornadoes are one of the deadliest and most unpredictable villains mankind will ever face. There is no rhyme or reason, no rhythm to it’s madness. Tornados are one of the most terrifying natural events that occur, destroying homes and ending lives every year. April 29th, 1995, a calm, muggy, spring night I may never forget. Jason, a buddy I grew up with, just agreed to travel across state with me so we could visit a friend in Lubbock. Jason and I were admiring the beautiful blue bonnets, which traveled for miles like little blue birds flying close to the ground. The warm breeze brushed across the tips of the blue bonnets and allowed them to dance under the perfectly clear blue sky. In the distance, however, we could see darkness. A rumbling sky was quickly approaching.
1. According to the USA Today Tornado Information website, a tornado is a "violently rotating column of air in contact with the ground and pendant from a thunderstorm." Therefore, thunderstorms are the first step in the creation of a tornado.
A tornado is defined as a violently rotating column extending from a thunderstorm to the ground. The most violent tornadoes are capable of tremendous destruction with wind speeds of two hundred and fifty miles per hour or more. Damage paths can be more than one mile wide and fifty miles long. In an average year, eight hundred tornadoes are reported nationwide, resulting in eighty deaths and over one thousand five hundred injuries. In the body of my essay, I will tell you about types of tornadoes, where tornadoes come from, where and when tornadoes occur, the damage they inflict, variations of tornadoes, and how to detect tornadoes.