The earth is a very busy place. It is never calm. Nature takes its toll on us every day with rainstorms, snowstorms, hailstorms, and so many other kinds. But, even if we are tired of these storms, we wouldn’t be able to survive without them. Yet, sometimes, these storms may get a little too serious and dangerous results may occur on land or on water. One of these consequences is tornadoes.
Tornadoes are severe, rapid, swirling winds than can go at top speed for hours on end. They stretch from specific clouds to the ground and move far distances to create havoc and ruin. Tornadoes are usually formed from a cloud called a supercell. Supercells are cumulonimbus clouds, but the only difference is that they have a rotating wall cloud, the big extension from the base of a cumulonimbus cloud. That rotation is cause by a mesocyclone. Scientists don’t exactly know how a tornado is formed; they only have a general idea of the formation. They believe that a tornado is formed from the mesocyclone, which is a rotating updraft, in the wall cloud. Mesocyclones are formed when winds at different altitudes come together and tumble and fall, creating a “cylinder” form. If a supercell thunderstorm cloud comes, its updrafts will pull the mesocyclone up, causing the mesocyclone to then spin upwards. The updrafts blend in with the mesocyclone and start to rotate as well. If the mesocyclone tightens and stretches out, it will rotate faster and rapid winds may form inside the mesocyclone. Precipitation from the supercell will push the tail of the winds down, and when it touches the ground, it is called a tornado. Although, not all mesocyclones may form tornadoes.
Tornadoes have very high winds, and may cause little to severe damage to many cities. Tor...
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...ooted. Category F3: Severe tornado (254-331 km/h) severe damage. Roofs and some walls are torn off. Trains are overturned. Most trees are uprooted. Heavy cars are thrown
Category F4: Devastating tornado (333-418 km/h) Devastating damage. Well built houses are flattened. Houses with weak structures are blown off. Cars are thrown.
Category F5: Incredible tornado (420-511 km/h) incredible damage. Strong houses are lifted up and thrown. Trees are pulled out of the ground.”
“Enhanced Fujita Scale:
EF0: 104- 136 km/h
EF1: 138-177 km/h
EF2: 178-217 km/h
EF3: 218-265 km/h
EF4: 267-321 km/h
EF5: 321 km/h and over”
Usually, when you know a tornado is coming, the rotating wall cloud will be one of your first signs, but you can never be certain when a tornado is coming. In fact, tornadoes occur almost instantly that people have very limited time to get to a shelter.
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.
In the article by Jeff Piotrowski and the article on the Joplin Tornado: Evil Swirling Darkness, explains that the Joplin tornado took out the city of Joplin, Missouri. The tornado came into the town of Joplin on May 22, 2011 and was about a mile wide. Fires were attacking the city and homes from broken gas lines, and many people were buried alive in their houses. The fire department was gone and no one could find any police to help. Neighbors helped neighbors, pulling each other out of the ruble. Over 125 people had died all from being trapped and suffocated, to be cut open by sharp objects that fell. In the end many people had died and were injured during the tragic tornado that came through and left Joplin in horror and terror.
what it looked like after the tornado struck up the street). More than 25 auto
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.
In this paper, I will discuss what tornadoes are and how they form, what different forms of tornadoes there are, what tornado watches and warning are and give examples of tornadoes in Oklahoma and what destruction they caused, also while providing information about the Doppler radar.
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.
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.
On 4/26/1991, a category 5 (max. wind speeds 261-318 mph) tornado 17.1 miles away from the Wich...
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.
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.
A tornado struck Joplin, Missouri on May 22, 2011 at around 5:40 pm. With a population around 50,559, it killed 161 people and injured approximately 1,100 people. The cost was an estimated $2.8 billion in damage. The American taxpayers had to give about $500 million in recovery money. This made it the deadliest tornado since 1950, which was when modern recordkeeping began. Since it was an EF5 tornado, it destroyed everything in its path. The city was ruined with only piles of debris left. It was a half-mile wide when it hit Joplin and grew to three-quarters of a mile wide. It destroyed nearly 7,000 homes in Joplin and damaged hundreds more. It covered over 1,800 acres of land. The warnings that the Joplin residents received were through three different ways. The tornado warning that was sent out for Joplin’s county was from Jasper County Emergency Operations Center (JCEOC) and they claim that the first siren went off at 5:11 pm. Two other warnings for the Joplin residents was they saw the tornado heading their direction, and the media coverage which was all local electronic media switched to wall-to-wall coverage seeing live footage of the tornado.
Kate Chopin’s “The Storm”, is a story filled with metaphorical references between a thunderstorm of rain and a thunderstorm of passion. Calixta, Bobinot, and Bibi led, what one would assume to be, a rather normal life. While Bobinot and Bibi are in town shopping they notice a storm approaching, and “Bobinot, who was accustomed to converse on terms of perfect equality with his little son, called the child’s attention to certain sombre clouds that were rolling with sinister intention from the west, accompanied by a sullen, threatening roar.” However, a moment a Mother Nature’s fury unleashed a wealth of passion between Calixta and her former beau Alcee Laballiere.
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.
Most tornados produced from these storms are relatively weak, don’t enter inhabited areas, and cause little to no damage. The problem is that Oklahoma gets 55.1 tornados annually. With all of these tornados, a couple of them are bound to go through populated areas and cause damage. The damage the tornado causes incre...
You panic as the lights inside your house start to flicker as the tornado touches down and it is reported as an F-5, the largest of all the tornadoes, tearing through houses with awe-inspiring velocity. A tornado engorges cars, trees, and small houses as it approaches your house. Being prepared, you descend to the storm cellar and brace yourself for the full impact of the unforgiving monster. The tornado has left its calling card on your block. A scrap of metal and glass resembling your car can be found on your next door neighbor’s lawn.