Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
A tornado is a violently rotating column of air in contact with the surface and a cumuliform cloud base. Tornado formation is caused by the stretching and aggregating/merging of environmental and/or storm-induced vorticity that tightens into an intense vortex. There are various ways this may come about and thus various forms and sub-forms of ...
Tornado Alley, which covers portions of the Great Plains and Midwest, experiences “a higher propensity for tornadic development” because all the key ingredients to form one are found there ...
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]
The parent cloud does not contain a preexisting mid-level mesocyclone. The landspout was so named because it looks like "a weak Florida Keys waterspout over land." [4] Landspouts are typically weaker than mesocyclone-associated tornadoes spawned within supercell thunderstorms, in which the strongest tornadoes form.
The smallest type of tornado can be short-lived, lasting just a few minutes, but that is not always the case. ... This is different from multi-vortex or satellite tornadoes as twins develop from ...
How do tornadoes form? These vicious columns of air are formed from severe thunderstorms, which swoop close to the ground. The main ingredients to a tornado are warm air and cool air.
For a tornado to form in this manner, a rear-flank downdraft enters the center of the mesocyclone from the back. Cold air, being denser than warm air, is able to penetrate the updraft. The combination of the updraft and downdraft completes the development of a tornado. Tornadoes that form in this method are often violent and can last over an ...
Tornadoes are some of nature's most violent storms.When severe weather after a thunderstorm leaves widespread destruction in a community, we often think the damage was caused by a tornado — but ...