Aspects of Tornadoes

971 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: 3 aspects of tornadoes

Aspects of Tornadoes

How tornadoes form?

[IMAGE]Many people have seen the movie 'twister' (starring Helen Hunt

& Bill Paxton), within the movie there is clear footage that shows the

carnage and brutality of the tornado. Tornadoes (from the Spanish

words "tronada" meaning thunderstorm and "tornar" meaning turn) are

nature's fiercest storms. Tornadoes are funnel-shaped, wedged-shaped

and rope-shaped and seem to appear from the bottoms of the huge

thunderstorm clouds. Despite their small size when compared to other

windstorms like hurricanes, tornadoes produce very strong winds.

Tornadoes from due to the engagement of two different air streams

which cause development of the hazard. If a tornado is too form often

a low-pressure system, with cold and warm fronts, must be present.

[IMAGE]First warm, moist air (e.g. from Gulf of Mexico) starts off a

cold war and meets fast moving stream of cold air (e.g. from Rocky

Mountains). A small layer of warmer air gets above the warm and humid

air at the surface. This is like an atmospheric sandwich, with warm

and humid air at the surface, the capping layer of warmer air in the

middle and cold and dry air above. As this continue the meeting of the

air above causes the land mass to warm up during the day, this causes

the warm moist air to become unstable and rises through the cold air

to form a small, low-pressure system - mesocyclone. As this continues

it causes cumulonimbus cloud development and thus thunderstorms

develop. A thunderstorm happens when there is moisture in the

atmosphere, a lifting force causing air to begin rising, and unstable

air that will continue to rise once it starts a...

... middle of paper ...

...ings demolished, unanchored mobile

homes overturned, block structure walls collapsed, roofs peeled back.

Small wood missiles observed.

24%

F3 (strong)

158-206 mph

SEVERE DAMAGE: Exterior walls and roofs blown off homes. Metal

buildings collapsed or are severely damaged. Forests are flattened.

Most block structures collapsed.

6%

F4 (violent)

207-260 mph

DEVASTATING DAMAGE: Few walls, if any, standing in well-built homes.

Pile of debris on foundation, large steel and concrete missiles thrown

far distances.

2%

F5 (violent)

261-318 mph

(RARE) INCREDIBLE DAMAGE: Homes on slabs levelled with debris removed.

Schools, motels and other marginally engineered buildings have

considerable damage with exterior walls and roofs gone. Top stories

demolished.

less than 1%

Show More
Related

  • Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Tornado Case Study

    1103 Words  | 3 Pages

    Appears in Preprints, 18 th AMS Conf. Severe Local Storms (San Francisco, CA), 19-23 February 1996, Amer. Meteor. Soc., 471-473. Typos and other minor problems have been fixed in this Web version.

    Read More

  • The Super Tornado Outbreak of 1974

    729 Words  | 2 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Oklahoma Tornadoes and Their Destructive Ways

    1433 Words  | 3 Pages

    Tornadoes form from wind shears. Wind shears form from warm air that is found at ground level; when it’s raised, the updraft meets a down draft of cooler air that is moved in the opposite direction of the warm air. When both are pushed towards the Earth, this creates wind shear. A spinning tube of air, created from wind shear; tilts upward into a vertical position, as the updraft sucks up moisture from the ground and into the sky. As the warm air cools high in the sky; this produces condensation. The condensation then produces thunderclouds, which rise to 30,000+ feet. The spinning formations of air are then trapped and lifted into the thundercloud. This begins as swirling motion and as continued (if the winds remained viable), a supercell will form. Mesocyclones as they are known are a rotating cloud. If these rotating clouds run into humid air it will spi...

    Read More

  • Tornadoes: Mother Nature’s Most Kept Secret.

    1353 Words  | 3 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • The Greensburg Tornado

    1048 Words  | 3 Pages

    As evening approached, several thunderstorms began to take on the characteristics of a supercell thunderstorm. Supercells, which are intense, broadly rotating thunderstorms, are the most v...

    Read More

  • Wichita, Kansas and Tornados

    571 Words  | 2 Pages

    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

    Read More

  • Speech on Tornados

    1671 Words  | 4 Pages

    2. The USA Today Tornado Information site also indicates that there are three key conditions for thunderstorms to form.

    Read More

  • Autumn Tornado Outbreak in Midwest

    837 Words  | 2 Pages

    I would like to start out by what we know about tornados and outbreaks, and what is said to be the cause of such catastrophic events, such as the outbreak that occurred November 17th in the Midwestern, portion of the United States. Tornado outbreaks occur when there are multiple tornados that are said to be produced by the same weather system. The classification of an outbreak can vary depending on interpretation. It is said that in order to be classified as a “tornado outbreak” there must be a certain number of tornados that touch down. It is said that the US has the most tornados of any country. This can be attributed the location with in the mid latitude. The Rocky Mountains, have the ability to block moisture and “buckle” the atmospheric flow; thus forcing a lot of dry air at mid-levels of the troposphere, due to downslope winds. While the Rockies are forming a “dry-line” the Gulf of Mexico on the other hand contributes a lot of low level moisture. This mixture of warm air and cold air is to blame for the large number of tornados that form in the US. These events are most prevalent in the Midwestern and Southeastern United States, along with the Great Plains also known as (tornado alley) although some of these systems have been known to move as far North as Canada. The tornado outbreak that took place on the 17th of November is said to have been the one of the largest outbreaks to have occurred in eight years. This particular storm spawned a total of 72 tornados that swept through seven states, according to the National Weather Service. This outbreak is being considered the fourth largest outbreak of its kind, especially this time of year.

    Read More

  • Tri-State Tornado

    1118 Words  | 3 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • The Gulf War

    2139 Words  | 5 Pages

    The Tomahawk cruise missile is a computer-guided missile fired from U.S. combat vessels carrying either 1,000-lb. warheads or a cluster of 166 soda-can-sized ‘bomblets’. The warhead can hit within a few feet of its target. This is one of the backbone attacks of the war. This weapon allowed allied forces to destroy buildings in a very populated area without harming any civilians.

    Read More

  • A Destructive Tornado

    633 Words  | 2 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Storm Chasing a Race to Save Lives

    1186 Words  | 3 Pages

    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)

    Read More

  • Texas City Disaster Essay

    1000 Words  | 2 Pages

    The explosion caused a fifteen foot wave that was detectable one hundred miles away. Any buildings near by were completely flattened to the ground. Anybody within forty miles away their windows were shattered. The explosion was so great that it sent all of the cargo on board such as peanuts, tobacco, twine, and bunker oil two thousand to three thousand feet in the air. It was so loud that the blast was heard one hundred

    Read More

  • A Short Overview Of Hurricanes

    1068 Words  | 3 Pages

    Hurricanes originate as tropical disturbances over warm oceans with trade winds. The tropical turbances intensify into tropical depressions, and eventually into a tropical storm. They only originate in the tropical trade winds because the ocean temperatures are quite warm there. Powered from the heat that the sea gives off, they are steered by the east trade winds and the temperate west ones, as well as by their own ferocious energy. Around their core, winds grow with a tremendous amount of velocity creating violent seas. As they move toward the shore, they move the ocean inward, while spawning tornadoes and producing torrential rains and floods.

    Read More

  • Tornado Essay

    997 Words  | 2 Pages

    Most tornadoes evolve from energy. Tornadoes come from the energy released in a thunderstorm. As powerful as they are, tornadoes account for only a tiny fraction of the energy in a thunderstorm. What makes them dangerous is that their energy is concentrated in a small area, perhaps only a hundred yards across. Not all tornadoes are the same, of course, and science does not yet completely understand how part of a thunderstorm's energy sometimes gets focused into something as small as a tornad...

    Read More

More about Aspects of Tornadoes

Open Document