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Tornado Alley location
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Thunder rolled intensely outside, my aunt, mother, sister and I were sat calmly in the basement. We had been through this many times before; I mean afterall, Kansas was part of Tornado Alley. 2. My sister and I were young when this happened, her probably four or five, me about eight. 3. Before we had even started driving to my aunt’s house; since she’s the only one with a basement; my sister and I were complaining about being hungry. 4. Mom said she would get us something to eat soon, but then the sirens started blaring. 5. She called my aunt and told her we would be over in about ten minutes. 6. Me and my sister continued to complain about being hungry because, we always had to get what we wanted. 7. So my mom stopped at McDonald’s and got us some food. 8. After we were almost five minutes later than we said we would be my aunt panicked. 9. Jenny, my aunt, was calling like crazy. 10. When we finally got to her house she lectured my mom about how it wasn’t safe to have us out there like that with a tornado in the area. 11.Afterwards, we all sat on the porch and watched the storm. 12. That’s my favorite memory with my family, and it’s one I’ll never forget. …show more content…
2. However my parents coaxed me into softball, I played softball for thirteen years and stayed playing from kindergarten to my last year in middle school. 3. The school introduced me to the team and my parents always wanted me to do something athletic so I figured this was the best option. 4. My parents found I was very fond of singing, I would sing along to all of the songs I knew on the radio. 6. When I was young it was cute, but now they can’t get me to fall silent. 7. They told me to join choir, or show choir, or maybe audition for the musical, but I was too shy. 8. Maybe I had a slight inferiority complex, but I wouldn’t ever take my parent’s advice. 9. These were just some of my
I have chosen the scene when the tornado actually hits during this scene there are two main characters Dexter and famous storm chaser Dr. Norman Gage. Dexter is eleven years old and loves to study the weather he says when he grows up he wants to be a storm chaser just like Dr. Norman Gage. The other main character is Dr. Norman Gage he has his own T.V. series showing him chase storms but in the scene he makes a terrible mistake of getting out of his car and trying to get some good footage of the tornado and gets swept away. Dexter’s mom and dad allowed him to go storm chasing while they left the town.
The 1953 Waco Tornado was the deadliest tornado in Texas since 1900. The violent and deadly twister ripped through the downtown area killing and injuring hundreds. 600 homes were destroyed and 5 people were hit and killed in cars.Injured people were 597 and 114 killed.
Halfway up it was beginning to look doubtful, the wind was picking up and everyone was getting out rain gear to prepare for the storm. I voiced my doubts to Phil and he said we might as well keep going until the lighting got too close. So we did. The thunder grew in volume and the echoes magnified the noise to a dull roar sometimes. Then suddenly it began to ebb. The wind died down and lightening came less frequently. I exchanged relieved looks with Phil after a bit, but kept the pace up--I didn’t want to take chances. Eventually it hit us, but by then it was nothing more then a heavy rain. We kept moving, if slower, and made it over the ridge with no other problems. That night I enjoyed the meal a little more and slept a little deeper realizing how much is important that easily goes unnoticed until something threatens to take it away.
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.
What makes tornadoes and their destruction interesting to people? Is it the variety in formations, the miles one can travel, the random paths it takes, the changes tornadoes can make on climate and the formation of the land or is it because tornadoes often leave behind a path of destruction and deaths?
On May 20th, 2013 a EF 5 tornado hit Moore, Oklahoma and surrounding towns, with a path as wide as 1.3 miles wide (2.1 km) and had a wind speed, estimated at its peak, of 210 miles per hour (340 km/h). Killing 24 people, and injuring 377, this was one of the United States worst tornadoes in the past few years, along side the Joplin, Missouri tornado, in 2011. One of Mother Nature’s most dangerous and still very mysterious phenomenons averages about 1,200 reported each year, resulting in 80 deaths and injuring 1500. With very little known about them, especially whether or not they will form is one of the questions that plague meteorologist to this very day. What causes tornadoes, how does the tilt and gravity of the earth affect the winds to produce a tornado, and what will the future hold about our understanding of tornadoes?
On May 4, 2007, the town of Greensburg, Kansas was devastated by an exceptionally strong tornado. With maximum winds estimated to be in excess of 205 miles per hour, and leaving a damage path as wide as 1.7 miles, the storm would go on to be rated a rare EF5, the first recorded in the United States since 1999. When the storm finally subsided, 95 percent of Greensburg had been destroyed, killing eleven people.
In May of 1931, black clouds the size of the Rockie Mountains pondered over our farm house. We have had storms before, but nothing like this. I began getting worried, so I asked Mother, “Do you think this will pass over?”
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.
My parents were not pleased with my obsession with music. At first they humored me by listening to my songs but when i neared the end of my junior year i was sixteen and they thought they should put an end to my futile and irrational dream of being a musician. They thought I should focus more on my studies. They wanted me to be a nurse like my mother, and work in the hospital I was born at with my dad, Dr. Lawrence E. Roberts, and my mom, nurse Robbin M. Roberts. It was then I knew what I had to do; the year was 1964 I figured hell it was time I ran my own life.
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.
About a week later a tornado razed a better part of North Houston. It brought rain. It brought hail. It upended cars; it flooded houses. And in its trail it left fallen branches and trees, and removed, in whole, one tiny tomato-onion-potato-and-green-bean garden located behind my garage.
I have been able to explore many options because my parents have always encouraged and believed in me even when I doubted myself. In high school I was very active in extracurricular activities. I tried different sports and when I realized that playing them was not a strength of mine I tried managing. While I enjoyed managing softball, I wanted to do something more during the other seasons. This is when I decided to join the cheerleading squad, and that turned out to be a strength of mine. I played in the band, sang in the choir, and wrote for the school newspaper. I was not good at all these activities but that is okay because I realized that music was not a skill of mine but I was good at writing. Erikson describes this as a change in self-concept; it is the realization that one has negative and positive qualities that are situation specific but does not affect ones self-esteem.
At the age of ten, my parents decided that I should learn how to play an instrument. In addition, they also chose which instrument I should learn, the guitar. I had no interest in learning the guitar, because all I wanted to spend my leisure time on was improvising my soccer skills. However, my parents believed soccer was a waste of my precious time, time which I should be using to focus on school and expanding my brain by taking on a difficult task, such as learning to play music. This was contrary to what I believed, but I had to do it or else my parents would be displeased. Therefore, the following week, I began taking guitar lessons.
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.