Archive for the ‘Tornado Facts’ Category

Tornadoes are natures most violent and unpredictable storms.  They are formed by severe thunderstorms, most often in the spring and summer.
There is a section of the United States known as ‘Tornado Alley’, which consists of Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska, Missouri, Arkansas, Tennessee, and all Mid-western states.  If you live in a tornado prone area, stay alert during severe weather and know your communities warning systems.

Basic safety rules should be observed.  Be alert and watch for any changes in the weather.  If you hear a tornado warning or see a funnel cloud, take shelter immediately

Know your warning levels, they will often be given by your local radio or television station.  A Tornado Watch means that the conditions are favorable for a tornado to form.  A Tornado Warning means that a funnel has been sited or indicated by radar.  You should take shelter immediately.  Stay alert during severe storms, because sometimes there is not time for a warning.

Following these safety suggestions may increase your chances of survival.

If you are at home, stay away from the windows.  Go to the interior of your home, preferably the basement and get under something sturdy.  If you don’t have a basement, go to the lowest level of your home, to the bathroom or closet.  Cover your body with blankets or sleeping bags and stay away from heavy objects.

Do not stay in a mobile home during a tornado, leave, and seek shelter.

Do not try to outrun a tornado in your car, get out, and seek shelter.

If outside during a tornado, go immediately to a gully or ditch, if one is available, if not go to a low spot in the ground and lay flat.

Know your warnings, be prepared, watch, and be safe.

Run, take shelter, its headed right at us.”  This is too commonly heard when a tornado is approaching.  What is a tornado?  It is a rotating column of air extending from the thunderstorm to the ground and often called a funnel cloud and this funnel can be one of the most dangerous and deadly acts of Mother Nature that you will ever experience.

Tornadoes occur most frequently in the United States but can be seen in many parts of the world.  More occur east of the Rocky Mountains in the spring and summer, but can happen anywhere and at any time.  More than eight hundred tornadoes are reported every year and the area of destruction can range from one mile wide, to fifty miles in length.

In the U. S. tornadoes develop with the onset of the warm moist air from the Gulf of Mexico and the cool dry air from Canada.  When these two meet, they create instability in the atmosphere.  With a change in the wind direction and an increasing height, a spinning effect is created in the lower atmosphere.  Air then rises with an updraft and causes the rotating air to tilt from horizontal to vertical, leaving an area of rotation two to six miles wide within the storm.

Large hail, a wall Cloud, a loud roar, and dark greenish skies usually precede tornadoes.  Winds associated with a tornado range from less than one hundred miles per hour with an F-1 tornado, to greater than two hundred miles per hour with an F-5 tornado.  Tornadoes have been known to shoot a straw though a tree, hurl vehicles, uproot trees, destroy buildings, and kill people.  It is commonly said that they sound like a freight train coming and you should take them very seriously, have a plan, and take shelter.

References:

http://www.nssl.noaa.gov/edu/safety/tornadoguide.html

http://www.weatherwizkids.com/weather-tornado.htm

http://skydiary.com/kids/tornadoes.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tornado

This map, published by NOAA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, illustrates where tornadoes take place most prolifically, and where the most damage, injury and death takes place from tornadic activity in the United States.

NOAA Tornado Map

NOAA offers us this excellent description of the Fujita Scale and helps you to understand more about how tornadoes work, as well as what the Fujita scale measures.
F0     40 to 72 MPH     Some damage to chimneys, TV antennas, roof shingles, trees, and windows.     29% of all tornadoes

F1     73 to 112 MPH     Automobiles overturned, carports destroyed, trees uprooted     40%

F2     113 to 157 MPH     Roofs blown off homes, sheds and outbuildings demolished, mobile homes overturned.     24% of all tornadoes

F3     158 to 206 MPH     Exterior walls and roofs blown off homes. Metal buildings collapsed or are severely damaged. Forests and farmland flattened. 6% of all tornadoes

F4     207 to 260 MPH     Few walls, if any, standing in well-built homes. Large steel and concrete missiles thrown far distances.     2% of all tornadoes

F5     261 to 318 MPH     Homes leveled with all debris removed. Schools, motels, and other larger structures have considerable damage with exterior walls and roofs gone. Top stories demolished  1% of all tornadoes