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The word tornado comes from the Spanish tronada (meaning 'thunderstorm', past participle of tronar 'to thunder', itself in turn from the Latin tonāre 'to thunder'). [16] [17] The metathesis of the r and o in the English spelling was influenced by the Spanish tornado (past participle of tornar 'to twist, turn,', from Latin tornō 'to turn'). [16]
Tornado Alley, also known as Tornado Valley, is a loosely defined location of the central United States and Canada where tornadoes are most frequent. [1] The term was first used in 1952 as the title of a research project to study severe weather in areas of Texas , Louisiana , Oklahoma , Kansas , South Dakota , Iowa and Nebraska .
Tornadoes, despite being one of the most destructive weather phenomena, are generally short-lived. A long-lived tornado generally lasts no more than an hour, but some have been known to last for 2 hours or longer (for example, the Tri-State Tornado). Due to their relatively short duration, less information is known about the development and ...
Mini-tornado – A fallacious term often used in European news media to refer to tornadoes occurring there; even large, strong, and/or long track tornadoes produced by supercells. This is apparently due to the erroneous perception that "real" tornadoes do not occur in Europe (or elsewhere where the term is applied).
An example of a tornado warning polygon issued by the National Weather Service. A tornado warning (SAME code: TOR) is a public warning that is issued by weather forecasting agencies to an area in the direct path of a tornado, or a severe thunderstorm capable of producing one, and advises individuals in that area to take cover.
Tornado emergency TOR-E (SVS) – Sent as a "severe weather statement" or a complete re-issuance of the tornado warning, this is an unofficial, high-end tornado warning issued when a violent tornado is expected to impact a heavily populated area.
While most tornadoes attain winds of less than 110 miles per hour (180 km/h), are about 250 feet (80 m) across, and travel a few miles (several kilometers), the wind speeds in the most intense tornadoes can reach 300 miles per hour (480 km/h), are more than two miles (3 km) in diameter, and stay on the ground for dozens of miles (more than 100 km).
Tornadoes of 1913. 1913 Easter tornado outbreak; Tornadoes of 1916. Tornado outbreak of June 5–6, 1916; Tornadoes of 1917. March 1917 tornado outbreak; Tornado outbreak sequence of May 25 – June 1, 1917; Tornadoes of 1918. 1918 Tyler tornado; Tornadoes of 1919. Tornado outbreak of April 9, 1919; 1919 Fergus Falls tornado; Tornadoes of 1920