Tornadoes

Tornados

What is a tornado? A tornado is a violent, spinning column of air that is in contact with both the surface of the earth and a cumulonimbus cloud or, in rare cases, the base of a cumulus cloud. These are clouds that are involved in extreme weather such as tornados, hurricanes, and thunderstorms. Which most people like to call it the spinning wind of death and destruction. Tornados are formed in a really big rotating thunderstorm called a super cell. Super cells form when cold polar air meets warm tropical air. When the two different types of air meet a great instability occurs by the rising warm air. A squall line, or narrow zone of cumulonimbus clouds forms, giving life to the tornadoes. Lightning flashes, and heavy rains and hail begin to fall. The funnel soon starts to show and it seems to start from the base of the cloud. It actually really doesn’t because the pressure within the cloud drops because of the increasing wind speeds. This is known as Bernoulli's principle. As the pressure drops, it causes moisture in the air to condense. This action continues down the funnel, making it seem that the funnel is descending from the cloud base. Most tornadoes have wind speeds between 40 mph (64 km/h) and 110 mph (177 km/h), are approximately 250 feet (75 m) across, and travel a few miles (several kilometers) before dissipating. The most extreme can attain wind speeds of more than 300 mph (480 km/h), stretch more than a mile (1.6 km) across, and stay on the ground for dozens of miles (more than 100 km) There is also a hissing sound, which turns into a load roar. Sources: 1) [] 2) []

By: Leonel Villalona