How Tornadoes Occur

1054 Words3 Pages

One storm causes so much destruction and devastation. Houses ripped open, trees split in half, and debris anywhere and everywhere. A town can go from looking perfect to nothing in a matter of minutes because of one storm. A tornado may be a life changer in some situations. Because tornadoes cause so much devastation, citizens need to be informed about the warning signs, recognize the types of winds and the changing temperatures which make them form, and understand the way these work to create the destruction in their path. If tornadoes occur in populated areas, they can cause significant damage. Wherever they occur, there is no way to stop them.Knowing the warning signs of a tornado forming may help protect life. “A tornado can occur with …show more content…

When two different winds come together in the atmosphere a tornado can start to form. The temperature of the winds or the elevation the winds meet at form the tornado. A combination of warm and cool air formulate a perfect mixture for a tornado to start to form. Strong warm, moist air starts to rotate and a tornado can make an appearance.. The circling motion gets called a tornado when the draft hits the surface (Coffel). The most common cause of why tornadoes actually occur is the mixture of warm and cool air. Another reason behind the cause of tornadoes has been uncovered. When two different levels of air hit together a funnel will then start to form. When two winds come at different elevations that is when a tornado will start to construct the funnel shape. The different wind speeds start to create a sudden change in wind direction (“How Tornadoes Form”). For example, a wind from Kansas and a wind from Oklahoma meet together, a tornado possible could form. The two different temperatures of the wind and the different elevations can cause a tornado, but on some occasions, a tornado does not form. With this information, tornadoes remain one of the hardest storms to track and give warnings for. Meteorologists and storm chasers frequently deal with the unpredictability of the storms. Because of this, the warnings …show more content…

The destruction happens because of the speed and the wideness of the tornado. Destruction will happen when a tornado occurs and there is no way to stop it from happening. The speed of a tornado is the main factor, when it comes to destruction. The width of the tornado is the next in line. The record speed of a tornado marks at 301 miles per hour. This speed occurred in Moore, Oklahoma. The monster of a tornado that hit Moore, Oklahoma in 2013, was the strongest tornado hit since 2011. A mile long tornado with up to three hundred miles per hour wind hit the town in such a short amount of time. The width of a tornado comes into play next. A tornado can grow up to a mile wide. In fact, a mile long tornado was recorded in Joplin, Missouri in 2011. Yes, the tornado from 2011 that was mentioned was the strongest, but Moore blew it out of the water. This tornado came out of nowhere. In spite of the destruction of this storm, Sylvia Reynolds, who lives in Joplin, was not aware it was coming. She said, “I vaguely remember a chance of a thunderstorm that day. It was such a beautiful day. I think the tornado warning was more of a surprise to me and it happened so fast.” The Joplin tornado had little warning considering the damage the storm caused. This tornado was categorized as a F5 storm. According to Ted Fujita ,the scientist who developed the Fujita Scale that measures tornadoes,

More about How Tornadoes Occur

Open Document