Tornadoes can produce winds in excess of 300 miles an hour, but even much weaker tornadoes can devastate an area. A tornado is a rotating column of air extending from a thunderstorm to the ground. A lot of thunderstorms happen but a thunderstorm that destroys the most is the tornado. Tornadoes are typically 300 to 500 yards wide, though some of the largest ones have spanned a width of more than two miles. EF-2: 111 to 135 mph winds remove roofs from well-built homes. https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/natural-disasters/tornadoes A basement or a sturdy, windowless room is a good option. In strong storms, that may stir up a broad, rotating chunk of lower atmosphere known as a "mesocyclone" (pictured above), which can span several miles across. You may also see broken tree branches and small trees get pushed over. Tornado formation. Tornadoes get their ratings from the strength of their winds, which can also determine the damages they cause. The aftermath of a tornado in New Orleans. “By having a plan to get to shelter and executing it, you may save yourself and your family that one time the alarm is not false.”. But what exactly causes tornadoes to form, and what makes them so destructive? Here's what will. Florida is the most tornado-prone state outside Tornado Alley thanks to its almost daily summer thunderstorms. When tornadoes touched down in eastern Alabama on Sunday, they killed at least 23 people and caused millions of dollars in property damage — adding another grim chapter to the annals of the most violent of all windstorms. Oklahoma endures the most tornadoes of any state, but it's got close company in Texas and Kansas. Read more about types and cause of tornadoes here. The Enhanced Fujita scale wasn’t in use then, but that twister — or twisters — is believed to have been an EF-5. EF-2 and EF-3 tornadoes, with winds of 111 to 165 miles an hour, can cause severe damage — uprooting trees, tearing off roofs and lifting cars, trucks and even trains off the ground. More could still form, and even if the storm is over, the damage can be deceptively dangerous — loose nails, broken glass and downed power lines are just a few of the risks hidden amid the rubble.
If the storm is strong enough and the atmospheric pressure is low enough, the rotating mesocyclone may also extend down a concentrated, supercharged funnel cloud known as a tornado. A weak tornado causes small damage to property, while a stronger tornado can destroy a large part of the affected city. A mesocyclone is often identifiable by a rotating wall cloud, like in this thunderstorm over Texas. Tornadoes can form quickly and without warning, and their destructive nature makes them hard to study. Any time thunderstorms occur in conditions where temperatures at the ground are substantially warmer than those aloft, the storms can be strong enough to create one or more tornadoes. The most common hour for tornadoes is 5 p.m., followed by 6 and 7 p.m.; they form least often between 3 and 9 a.m. Get out and find an open, treeless place that doesn't have many potential projectiles. tornadoes touched down in eastern Alabama on Sunday, produce winds in excess of 300 miles an hour. The bottom end of the vortex is surrounded by a cloud of dust and debris. Extreme wind speeds and suction make tornadoes the deadly threats they are, but the main risks to people are almost always flying debris and falling buildings. Thunderstorms are common worldwide — there may be 700 to 2,000 going on at any given time — but only a fraction of them become severe enough to form a tornado.
Some tornadoes form over the ocean. It is known that a sudden drop in air pressure precedes tornadoes. In the new version: EF-0: 65 to 85 mph winds result in some damage to house gutters, siding and roofs. Most powerful of all are EF-5 tornadoes, which have winds above 200 miles an hour. Tornado Categories Tornadoes are categorized by their wind speed and the amount of damage they cause using a scale called the "Enhanced Fujita" scale.
Head to the nearest basement if you can reach one, or just follow the rules for protecting yourself outdoors.
Mobile homes are notorious tornado targets since they're so easily flipped over and ripped apart by the ferocious winds. EF-5: 200 mph winds and above devastate everything in the path of the tornado. This includes a layer of moist warm air near the ground, which primarily occurs during spring and summer thunderstorms. Before a thunderstorm forms, winds begin quickly changing speed and direction. The last time tornadoes killed so many people in the U.S. was in May 2013, when 24 people died in Moore, Oklahoma. Multiple vortex - A tornado with more than one spinning tube of air. The resulting collisions above the Great Plains churn up "Tornado Alley's" namesake storms. FOLLOW NBC NEWS MACH ON TWITTER, FACEBOOK, AND INSTAGRAM. Since strong tornadoes can crush entire buildings, the best place to wait one out is the interior part of a basement or cellar. Your main goal during a tornado should be to avoid the path of any flying or falling debris, which causes the most tornado-related deaths. The largest tornado touched down in May of 2013 near Moore, Oklahoma resulting in a path of destruction that spanned 2.6 miles across and 16.2 miles long. “If you can’t get underground, get to a lowest level and put as many walls between you and the outside as possible,” says Hank Schyma, a storm chaser in Houston. Provided by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Somewhere between 800 and 1,000 tornadoes touch down in an average tornado season across the U.S., resulting in about $850 million in property damages each season. Wildlife Photographer of the Year Winners Will Take Your Breath Away, 30 of the Most Beautiful Places in the World, Forecast Warns of Busy Year for Tornado Alley, Tornadoes Are Wreaking Havoc — And Not Just in 'Tornado Alley'. Office buildings and malls experience severe damage, trains overturn, and trees lose bark. Knowing what to do when you see a tornado, or when you hear a tornado warning, can help protect you and your family. Tornadoes can occur any time of year, but they wage all-out war on the U.S. during spring and summer. For the southern states, this season runs from March through May, but in the northern climes, tornadoes occur in the summertime. These severe thunderstorms have persistent updrafts that can reach speeds of 100 mph.
Winds throw heavy vehicles through the air, and any structure with a weak foundation is at risk of destruction. Stick-built houses shift, mobile homes get flattened, large trees get broken and removed from the ground, and the winds can lift cars off the ground. Tornadoes typically last no more than a few minutes and travel less than a mile along the ground before a shift in the forces that sustain them causes them to dissipate. Tornado season requires the right conditions.
While Tornado Alley has no official boundaries, it essentially stretches from the Appalachians to the Rockies, with a core of high activity running from South Dakota to central Texas. Here's a video showing several tornadoes in action, with a warning to turn the sound down to mute the videographer's reaction: Russell McLendon is a science journalist who covers a wide range of topics about the natural environment, humans, and other wildlife.
Tornadoes spin violently as they siphon up any remaining humidity, a last-ditch effort to keep their thunderstorms going — similar to finishing a drink with a straw. Exactly how and why tornadoes form is not completely understood. But some especially powerful tornadoes travel for dozens of miles, destroying entire communities along the way. Though it had winds in excess of 295 mph, the tornado itself was an EF-3 tornado on the enhanced Fujita scale, a measurement that determines the strength of a tornado's winds.
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