Tornadoes, also known as twisters, are violent columns of air that rotate at high speeds and collide with both a cumulonimbus cloud and the earth’s surface. Tornadoes are typically 250 feet wide, travel at speeds of no more than 110 miles per hour, and last only a few miles before dissipating. The most dangerous tornadoes, which are rare, can reach speeds of 300 miles per hour or more. Tornadoes can be more than two miles wide and can stay on the ground for up to 100 kilometers. Tornadoes differ in that, in addition to the single funnel, they can be land-spouts, water-spouts, or multiple vortexes, and have been observed all over the world except Antarctica.
The United States has the world’s most violent tornadoes. Every year, between 800 and 1000 cases are reported.
Tornadoes have been reported in every season in every state in the United States.
Tornado alley in the United States is comprised of the states of Kansas, Texas, Oklahoma, South Dakota, and Nebraska.
Three out of every four tornadoes in the world occur in the United States.
Tornadoes typically last only a few minutes.
There is a less than 0.1 percent chance that a tornado will be an F5, the highest rating on the F-scale. F0 is the weakest link.
Tornadoes are most likely to occur between 3 and 9 p.m.
A water-spout is a tornado that forms over water.
During a tornado in Kansas in 1928, chickens were actually plucked from the wind.
A tornado in Mississippi in 1931 was so powerful that it lifted an 83-ton train and landed 80 feet away from the track.
Tornadoes frequently take on the color of the ground they pass through.
Tornadoes do not all make a lot of noise. It is determined by the type of objects swept into its funnel and the type of land it traverses.
Some people do not believe that crop circles are created by aliens. Some speculate that they are caused by small wind funnels.
A super-cell thunderstorm is the type of thunderstorm that produces tornadoes.
Tornadoes can hit one house and completely miss the next due to their ability to hop.
A tornado that ripped through Oklahoma took a motel sign, which was later discovered in Arkansas.
One tornado, known as the Tri-State Tornado, traveled more than 219 miles, leaving a path of destruction in its wake. This tornado was so deadly that 695 people were killed before it finally ended. It was the worst disaster in US history.
The world’s deadliest tornado was recorded in 1989, killing approximately 1300 people in Bangladesh.
If a tornado strikes your area, the best place to be is underground.
Tornadoes in the northern hemisphere tend to rotate counter-clockwise, whereas tornadoes in the southern hemisphere tend to rotate clockwise.
Other types of wind circulations do not become as powerful or dangerous as tornadoes. There are gustnadoes, dust devils, steam devils, and fire wheels among them.
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