Outline for Informative Speech
Your name
Tornadoes
Purpose: To inform the audience about tornadoes.
Thesis: In order to better understand tornadoes, it is important to explore what causes tornadoes to develop, how researchers classify types of tornadoes, and odd occurrences that may be associated with tornadoes.
Organizational Pattern: Topical
I. Introduction
A. Attention Getter: What can hurdle automobiles through the air, rip ordinary homes to shreds, defeather chickens, and travel at speeds over 60 mph?
B. Relevance: Illinois rests on the boundary of what tornado researchers call tornado alley. This is the area of the country that receives the most tornadoes every year. According to a 1995 brochure distributed by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Illinois averages 27 tornadoes a year. Also, nearly 5 people die every year in Illinois as a result of tornadoes [ AID]. In fact, according to Tornado Project Online!, a website hosted by a company that gathers tornado information for tornado re searchers, the deadliest tornado in U.S. recorded history occurred in Murphysboro, Illinois. In 1925 a violent tornado killed 234 people in this Southern Illinois town.
C. Credibility: I grew up in the heart of tornado alley and have been interested in this weather phenomenon for a very long time. Also, I am a trained weather spotter for the Bloomington/Normal civil defense agency.
D. Thesis: In order to better understand tornadoes, it is important to explore what causes tornadoes to develop, how researchers classify types of tornadoes, and odd occurrences that may be associated with tornadoes.
E. Preview: So, let's crash through the causes of tornadoes, twist around the types of tornadoes, and blow through some of the oddities associated with tornadoes.
Transition: Initially, I'll crash through the causes of tornadoes.
II. Body
A. What causes tornadoes?
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.
2. The USA Today Tornado Information site also indicates that there are three key conditions for thunderstorms to form.
a. First, moisture in the lower to mid levels of the atmosphere.
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.
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?
By late afternoon and early evening, storms began to blow up across parts of Oklahoma, Texas and Kansas. Although the storms began with only moderate and disorganized activity, they developed quickly into well-organized, explosive storms. As the day wore on, the National Weather Service and Storm Prediction Center began to issue more urgent updates to alert the public to the growing danger. Several storm chaser teams began to close in on the southern portion of Kansas, where conditions appeared most favorable for twister development.
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
National Weather Service. (2011, March 3). Tri-State Tornado Web Site. Retrieved March 3, 2011, from NOAA: http://www.crh.noaa.gov/pah/?n=1925tor
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
Tornadoes are powerful and destructive phenomena created in strong thunderstorms. Tornadoes are most common in the United States, and in the U.S., they are common in an area called Tornado Alley. Every year, tornadoes wreak havoc on the countryside, towns, and even cities. The deadliest tornado in U.S. history crossed over three states, destroyed 15,000 homes, and killed almost 700 people. There are only a couple of people on record that claim to have been in and seen the center of a tornado and lived. Tornadoes even have their own rating scale, based on their wind and damage level.Tornadoes are powerful vortexes created in thunderstorms, are common in the U.S., have its own rating scale, have only been seen on the inside a few times, have the potential to demolish towns, and can take lives.
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...
The cause will tell you what made the tornado and what will do if it went faster.
A tornado can be forecasted, but it is not the easiest to do, due to so many factors that come into play. Meteologists use many different tools to forecast tornadoes. Meteologists use, barometers, thermometers, and anemometers to calculate tornado factors. Meteologists also use doppler radars, and if conditions develop that are favorable for tornadoes, then a tornado or severe thunderstorm watch is issued.
Above all, any condition that affects climate conditions will take a toll in the way storms revolve. This remains true for meteorite impacts and nuclear explosions. Hurricanes and other storm patterns can grow from conditions brought by such formations. These disorders can disturb normal weather patterns, which go in hand with the power a hurricane will gain, causing overwhelming consequences when dealing with
Tufty, Barbara; 1001 Questions Answered about Hurricanes, Tornadoes, and Other Natural Air Disasters; Dover Publications, Incorporated, August 1987