Tornadoes

A tornado (sometimes called twister in the U.S.A.) is a small but intense velocity vortex
comprising a counter-clockwise (in the northern hemisphere) whirling storm, formed around an
intensely low pressure system with winds of great velocity and often a dark funnel shaped
cloud.
The diameter of this vortex is usually 100 metres or so at the base which increases upward.
The pressure at the centre of the funnel is usually 100 mb less than that of its surroundings.
This means that the pressure at the centre of tornado is extremely low.
Steep pressure gradient gives birth to high wind velocities which, on certain occasions, may
reach as high as 400 kmph.
Steep pressure gradient in the tornado sucks the air inside which is cooled adiabatically. If the
air cools below the dew point, condensation takes place and clouds are formed. The cloud
formation darkens the tornado as it moves across the ground picking up dust and debris. If,
however, the air is dry, no condensation takes place and the vortex is visible only by the
material that spirals upward with the funnel.
Tornadoes are generally short lived and move across the ground on an erratic path,
Tornadoes stay on the ground for 15 to 20 minutes on an average. However, in exceptional
cases, tornadoes may last for hours and travel over several hundred kilometers.
Formation of Tornadoes. Tornadoes may occur as isolated incidents in great numbers.
Locations ahead of the cold front provide ideal conditions for tornado formation. They are
formed as a result of collision of warm, moist air mass with cold, dry air mass.

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Following three conditions are essential for tornado formation.
(i) There must by a mass of very warm, moist air present at the ground surface.
(ii) There must be unstable vertical temperature structure.
(iii) There must be a mechanism to start rotation.
The above mentioned conditions are found to a great extent in the Great Plains of the U.S.A.
where cold front from the Rocky Mountains and warm from the Gulf of Mexico provide ideal
conditions for tornado formation.
The boundary between cold, dry air from the west and warm, moist air from the Gulf of Mexico
is a zone of great turbulence and known as dry line. The ground surface is heated during the
daylight hours which in turn, heats the air in lower layers. This heated air reaches a stage
where it can break through the dry line which results in the development of explosive
thunderstorms. The upward rush of air reaches velocities as high as 165 kmph. Under
favourable conditions, the storms will grow through the tropopause to heights of 18 kilometres.
These supercells produce heavy rainfall and large hail.

There must be some mechanism to start rotation which is provided by wind shear. Wind shear
is a change in the speed and direction of wind with respect to height. This wind shear adopt forces
the rising column of air rotate in a counterclockwise direction (in the northern hemisphere).
With more air flowing in the storm stretches in height and the rate of rotation increases. Once
the centre of the system starts rotating, it becomes a mesocyclone and may be as much as
10 km across. Sometimes, the mesocyclone produces a protruding wall cloud on the
underside of the storm which is a clear sign of a developing tornado.

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Mechanism:

Distribution of Tornadoes. Tornadoes are very common in the Central United States and
are much less frequent elsewhere in the world. They occur in greatest numbers in central and
southern states.
Nine states in the U.S.A. – Kansas, Iowa, Texas, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Missouri, Atacama,
Mississippi and Nebraska- report an average of over five tornadoes per year. Maximum
tornadoes hit the states of Texas and Oklahoma.
Tornadoes are also experiences in different parts of Europe, Eastern India and parts of
Central Asia, eastern and south western parts of Australia, South Africa and Uruguay as well
as contigenous parts of Argentina.

Hazards of Tornadoes. Tornadoes comprise one of the biggest killers among all the
atmospheric hazards and their devastating effect is particularly seen in the U.S.A. From 1916
to 1953 an average of 230 people died each year from tornadoes. No artificial structure can
withstand the impact of strong winds of a tornado. As the tornado moves across the country
the funnel withes and twists. Tornado destruction occurs both from the great wind stress and
from the sudden reduction of air pressure in the vortex of the cyclone spiral. Closed houses
literally explode. Rail road tracks are lifted and carried hundreds of metres away. Devastation
from a tornado is almost complete within the narrow limits of its path. Only the strongest
buildings made of concrete and steel are able to resist major structural damage.
There was no scale for assessing damage from tornadoes before 1960. T. Theodore Fujita of
the University of Chicago introduced a method for assessing the relative severity of tornadoes
a method for assessing the relative severity of tornadoes in the late 1960s. popularly known
as Fujita Scale, it provides an idea of the wind speed in a tornado and damage caused
thereby.

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