The number of average deaths per year in the United States used to be higher before improved forecasting and warning systems were put into place. But most tornado victims are struck by flying debris-roofing shingles, broken glass, doors, metal rods. High winds sometimes kill or injure people by rolling them along the ground or dropping them from dangerous heights. Winds can also destroy bridges, flip trains, send cars and trucks flying, tear the bark off trees, and suck all the water from a riverbed. Tornado destructionĮvery year in the United States, tornadoes do about 400 million dollars in damage and kill about 70 people on average.Įxtremely high winds tear homes and businesses apart. The United States now uses the EF (Enhanced Fujita) scale, which takes more variables into account when assigning wind speeds to a tornado. Using units F0 to F5, the Fujita scale measures a tornado's intensity by analyzing the damage the twister has done and then matching that to the wind speeds estimated to produce comparable damage. RELATED: Rare Footage of Some of the World's Worst Natural Disasters When it touches the ground, it becomes a tornado. The funnel continues to grow and eventually it descends from the cloud. Water droplets from the mesocyclone's moist air form a funnel cloud. Cool air fed by the jet stream, a strong band of wind in the atmosphere, provides even more energy. The updraft will begin to rotate if winds vary sharply in speed or direction.Īs the rotating updraft, called a mesocycle, draws in more warm air from the moving thunderstorm, its rotation speed increases. The warm air rises through the colder air, causing an updraft. The denser cold air is pushed over the warm air, usually producing thunderstorms. Tornadoes form when warm, humid air collides with cold, dry air. By this time the sun has heated the ground and the atmosphere enough to produce thunderstorms. Farther north, tornadoes tend to be more common later in summer.Īlthough they can occur at any time of the day or night, most tornadoes form in the late afternoon. May generally has more tornadoes than any other month, but April's twisters are sometimes more violent. The season follows the jet stream-as it swings farther north, so does tornado activity. Tornadoes can occur at any time of year, but they are more common during a distinct season that begins in early spring for the states along the Gulf of Mexico. About one in a thousand storms becomes a supercell, and one in five or six supercells spawns off a tornado. The most violent tornadoes come from supercells, large thunderstorms that have winds already in rotation. Either are fire tornadoes, which can spawn from wildfires. Dust devils are not associated with thunderstorms. They sometimes move inland and become tornadoes.ĭust devils are small, rapidly rotating columns of air that are made visible by the dust and dirt they pick up. ![]() Related to tornadoes, waterspouts are weak twisters that form over warm water. Tornadoes have been reported in Great Britain, India, Argentina, and other countries, but they are most often seen in the United States. state has experienced twisters, but Texas holds the record: an annual average of 120. Learn how tornadoes form, how they are rated, and the country where the most intense tornadoes occur.Įvery U.S. Tornadoes are some of the most destructive forces of nature. ![]() The tornado tears up everything in its path. The funnel hits the ground and roars forward with a sound like that of a freight train approaching. A funnel suddenly appears, as though descending from a cloud. It's often portended by a dark, greenish sky. What is a tornado?Ī tornado is a violently rotating column of air that extends from a thunderstorm to the ground. tornadoes cause 80 deaths and more than 1,500 injuries per year. " Tornado Alley," a region that includes the area in the eastern state of South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, northern Texas, and eastern Colorado, is often home to the most powerful and destructive of these storms. ![]() These violent storms occur around the world, but the United States is a major hotspot with about a thousand tornadoes every year. ![]() Giant, persistent thunderstorms called supercells spawn the most destructive tornadoes. Their winds may top 250 miles an hour and can clear a pathway a mile wide and 50 miles long.Īlso known as twisters, tornadoes are born in thunderstorms and are often accompanied by hail. Tornadoes are vertical funnels of rapidly spinning air.
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