INTERESTING FACTS ABOUT TORNADOES
T ornadoes tend to form in the Midwest portion of the United States and create a rotating windstorm that is devastating in a small path. Here are some fascinating facts about tornadoes …
Tornadoes can form in any month of the year, not just during ‘tornado season’
Tornado season varies depending on where you live, but in the Midwest, it tends to run from April 1 through June 30th, when around 80 percent of all tornadoes happen. However, they can occur during any month of the year, sometimes even in the middle of winter. For example, in December 1953, a tornado in Mississippi killed 38 people, making it one of the deadliest winter tornadoes on record.
Tornadoes can happen anywhere in the world, although they are most common in the United States
Tornadoes happen anywhere that the weather conditions create the right environment for them, but 75 percent of all tornadoes happen in the United States. In the US, they are most common in the central plains east of the Rocky Mountains and west of the Appalachian Mountains, but it’s not unheard of to have them in coastal areas and far northern areas either.
The United States sees an average of 1,000 tornadoes each year
The Insurance Information Institute estimates an average of 1,000 tornadoes a year in the United States. While this sounds like a lot, many are light or moderate tornadoes that cause minimal, if any, damage.
Tornadoes can have wind speeds upwards of 300 miles per hour
For a storm to be considered a tornado, it must have a wind speed of at least 65 mph. However, the strongest tornadoes have measured over 300 mph.
Tornadoes can form from both supercell and non-supercell thunderstorms
Supercell storms produce the most deadly tornadoes. These storms occur when the wind creates a rotating updraft. Once this updraft starts rotating and pulls in warm, moist air from ground level, a tornado can form. Non-supercell tornados are usually smaller and occur when there is not an updraft. Rather, there is a vertically spinning bit of air near the ground caused by wind shear from warm or cold fronts. If conditions are right, this spinning area stretches and becomes a tornado. This is common near the Rocky Mountains where the warm air in the plains meets the cold air from the mountains.
Tornadoes can be classified by their damage using the Enhanced Fujita Scale
The Enhanced Fujita Scale measures tornadoes based on wind speed, giving them a rating called an EF rating. The scale measures the wind speed of a three-second gust of wind. An EF 0 rating is from 65 to 85 mph, while an EF 5, the highest rating, is anything over 200 mph.
Thunderstorms can cause ‘tornado outbreaks,’ with multiple tornadoes in one day
When the storm patterns are right to create one tornado, they often create more than one at the same time. These tornado outbreaks can cause extensive damage in a geographic area, even though each individual tornado has a limited range.
Tornadoes can produce ‘debris balls’
As the tornado spins through an area, it picks up dirt, tree limbs and leaves along with debris from all sorts of human-made items.
These get spun into balls known as debris balls, which the wind can throw into buildings and cars, causing further damage.
Tornadoes can create ‘anticyclonic tornadoes’ that spin in the opposite direction
In the Northern Hemisphere, most tornadoes turn in a counterclockwise direction, and in the Southern Hemisphere, they go clockwise. Anticyclonic tornadoes take the opposite direction, and this affects only 2 percent of the tornadoes in the area. These tend to be smaller and weaker than cyclonic tornadoes.
Tornadoes tend to occur in ‘Tornado Alley’ and ‘Dixie Alley’ in the United States
Tornado Alley is a name given to a stretch of land between Kansas and Oklahoma known for its many tornadoes. Dixie Alley is a similar stretch that covers Arkansas, Mississippi and Tennessee. These areas have weather conditions that frequently turn into tornadoes.
Dixie Alley has fewer tornadoes, but they tend to be stronger.
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