A tornado is a funnel shaped column of air that rotates violently, extends from a thunderstorm, and touches the ground.

The word tornado comes from two Spanish words tornar, which means to turn, and tronada, which means thunderstorm. A tornado can be between a few meters, and a kilometer wide where it touches the ground. Usually they're a few hundred yards wide. Like a hurricane, the winds spin different ways in different hemispheres. In the southern hemisph ere, the winds rotate clockwise, and in the northern hemisphere, the winds rotate counterclockwise. In a few rare cases, the winds do the opposite, rotating counter clockwise in the southern hemisphere, and clockwise in the northern.

Federal Disaster Assistance from Pres. Bush in Aftermath of Picher Tornado

5/13/2008 In the wake of the deadly tornado that swept through the town of Picher on May 10, Gov. Brad Henry today asked Pres. Bush to provide a federal disaster declaration for Ottawa County. The designation would provide federal assistance to individuals and businesses in the tornado -ravaged area.