Defined as a speedily rotating column of air ranging in width from a few feet to more than a mile wide and whirling at destructively high speeds, normally accompanied by a funnel-shaped downward extension of a cumulonimbus cloud.
The word tornado comes from the Spanish word for thunderstorm tronada, this in turn was taken from the Latin “tonare” which means “to thunder” at long last it was turned into “ternado” by English sailors in the 1500′s to mean a “violent tropical storm” and finally changed by Americans to the word as we recognise it today “Tornado”.
But what are some of the other interesting tornado facts that you never actually listen about. I thought I would list a great deal of that I have found from the exploration that I have done.
A tornado reaches it is biggest power as the funnel reaches it is biggest width, then it starts to shrink and become more tilted as it loses power until it becomes ropelike and starts to dissipate or decay as they call it.
There are five atmospheric conditions that prime the atmosphere for tornadic activity:
1) a surfaced based layer at least 3000 feet deep, of warm moist air, overlain by arid air at midlevel’s
2) an inversion separating the two layers, preventing deep convection until the potential for overturning is traditionalisti causing a horizontal spinning in the atmosphere
3) a rapid decrease in air temperature with height above the inversion
4) A lifting of the air mass by a front or upper level disturbance
5) an updraft rising up into the storm from the lifting of air mass, these updrafts tilt the spinning in the atmosphere to a vertical position which is where the funnel will ordinarily appear
In the United States the intermediate tornadoes are around 500 feet in diameter, and stay on the ground for an intermediate of 5 miles. However there is very wide range of tornado sizes. They are ranked by a system called the Fujita Scale or “F- Scale”. The F-Scale was developed in 1951 by the Japanese-American meteorologist Tetsuya Fujita. It classifies tornadoes on a hierarchy which is listed below:
F0-Winds of (40-72) mph.
F1-Winds of (73-112) mph.
F2-Winds of (113-157) mph.
F3-Winds of (158-206) mph.
F4-Winds of (207-260) mph.
F5-Winds of (261-318) mph.
The United States has the most tornadoes of any country, averaging with regards to 1200 per year. Four times more than all of Europe. This is due for the most part to the distinguishable geography of the continent. It is a big continent extending from the tropical south all the way into the arctic areas, and has no major east-west mountain range to block air flow amidst these two areas. In the middle latitudes known as “tornado alley” where most of the world’s tornadoes occur, the Rocky Mountains block moisture and atmospheric flow, permitting drier air downstream to the east of the mountains. The desert areas in the Southwest likewise feed drier air into this area while the “Gulf of Mexico” feeds ample low level moisture. This topography sets the stage for some cold and warm air collisions which breeds strong storms with lots of moist air for fuel.
The aspect of a tornado may be affected mainly by the lighting conditions at the time. A tornado which is “back-lit” with the sun behind it will appear very dark; while the same tornado viewed with the sun shining towards it from behind the viewers back may appear gray or white. Debris may also affect the color of a tornado, when dust or debris is sucked up into the funnel it may appear darker. This may be seen in a great deal of pictures of tornadoes.
Tornadoes are most mutual in the spring and least mutual in the winter. Since spring and fall are transitional periods (warm to cool and cool to warm) there are more probabilities of cooler air colliding with warmer air resulting in thunderstorms. But on rare occasions favorable conditions for tornadoes may take place at time of the year. Worldwide most tornadoes occur in the late afternoon among 3pm and 7pm. After these times the air starts to cool down as the sun lowers, nevertheless tornadoes may occur any time of day or night if favorable conditions present themselves in the atmosphere.
The most extreme tornado ever recorded was the “tri state tornado” which hit parts of Missouri, Illinois and Indiana on March 8th 1925. Although tornadoes were not rated at all for the duration of that time amount of time it was likely an F5. Its path was 219 miles long, lasted for in regards to 3.5 hours, and was moving at a speed of an approximated 73 mph.
There are a lot of myths regarding tornadoes one of them is that if you open the windows in your house you will lessen the harm caused by the tornado. This is untrue there is a good deal of exploration that opening the windows may increase the severity of the harm caused by a tornado. A tornado may demolish a house whether the windows are open or closed. Another myth is that if you sit in the southwest corner of the basement you are safer, again this is untrue the safest place is in an underground room on the side or in the corner opposite the tornadoes approach. Many people build a safe room for safety in their basements which must include a weather radio, flashlights, water, primary support kit, and a great deal of non perishable food.
I genuinely hope you enjoyed these tornado facts. The study of weather and the atmosphere is a comparatively young science and tornadoes even more so. Although studied for in regards to 140 years there are still distinct features of the tornado that stay a mystery. That may be why so some people are mesmerized with this awful strength of nature.
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