Severe weather Final paper

Have you ever wondered how to describe a tornado, how tornados form, and how much

destruction they cause? Throughout this paper, I will be answering all these questions. Tornados

are a natural disaster that occurs yearly in many places. According to an article in the Atlantic

(Khazan), “The United States sees the most tornadoes globally, with an average of more than

1,000 tornadoes each year.”

Tornadoes are many times described in different ways. The most common way is from

The US Department of Commerce from an article on the National Weather Service website

“defines tornadoes as a violently rotating column of air touching the ground, usually attached to

the base of a thunderstorm. It has been said that they are nature’s most violent storm and can

have winds up to 300 MPH.” I always thought that tornados looked like a giant funnel. If it

wasn’t dangerous and if I knew nothing would happen to me, I wonder what it would be like to

stand at the bottom of the funnel part of the tornado and to look up and see what it looks/feels

like in the middle of the tornado.

(Photo came from google images)

 National Geographic says that “tornados can form anytime during the day. But usually

happen in the afternoon. Tornados are spawned from a rotation thunderstorm called a supercell

thunderstorm. Tornadoes form when warm, humid air collides with cold, dry air. The denser

colder air pushes up the lighter warmer air, usually producing thunderstorms. The warm air rises

through the colder air, causing an updraft. The updraft will rotate if winds vary sharply in speed

or direction.” I think it’s excellent to learn how tornados form and that they have a rating scale.

Also, there are different types of tornadoes.

The NOAA says, “The supercell that they are formed from is called a mesocyclone”

There are two types of tornadoes: supercell and non-supercell. There is also a rating scale for the

strength of a tornado, which is called an Enhanced Fujita scale. I find this interesting that they

have a scale that will measure the strength of tornadoes, and I don’t know if they can predict how

much destruction can happen on this scale.

(Photo came from kidspressmagazine.com to show how tornadoes are formed)

 We may not always know how much destruction tornadoes may cause. But if we

could predict how much destruction they cause, we could prepare for it. The NOAA states that

“the damage from tornados comes from the strong winds they contain and the flying debris

they create. The wind speeds can be as high as 300mph in the most violent tornados.”

Tornados can toss automobiles around in the air, houses can be completely ripped to

shreds with nothing left, and broken glass could become missiles because of the high winds in

tornados. The worst threat to all living creatures, including humans, would be the debris tossed

around in the wind. Tornado clean-up can take months to years clean up and can be expensive,

and I can’t imagine the cost it would take to clean up a mess like this.

images come from the

https://www.nssl.noaa.gov/tornados website

to show some of the damage that can occur

from tornados.
   In conclusion, tornadoes happen with severe thunderstorms, caused by warm, humid air

colliding with cold, dry air. An updraft is created and can produce wind speeds up to 300mph

that can cause massive damage from cars to people and can take a very long time to clean up.

From reading all these articles and seeing the different pictures, I have learned a lot of new

things about tornados, how they form, and the destruction they can do. I didn’t realize how much

damage they could do until I saw the pictures that I found. Because we know that tornados can

happen, we should prepare as much as possible so that if one hits where you live, you can know

what to do and be ready for it.

 Works Cited

25, Apr. “Tornado Formation.” KidsPressMagazine.com, 5 May 2014,

https://kidspressmagazine.com/science-for-kids/misc/misc/tornado-formation.html.

Class Notes

Khazan, Olga. “Where Else Do Tornadoes Strike?” The Atlantic, Atlantic Media Company, 21

May 2013, https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2013/05/where-else-do-

tornadoes-strike/276093/.

Markowski, Paul, and Yvette Richardson. “What We Know and Don't Know about Tornado

Formation.” Physics Today, American Institute of Physics AIP, 1 Sept. 2014,

https://physicstoday.scitation.org/doi/10.1063/PT.3.2514#.

Staff, National Geographic. “Tornado Facts and Information.” Environment, National

Geographic, 3 May 2021,

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/article/tornadoes#:~:text=Tornadoes%20form

%20when%20warm%2C%20humid,sharply%20in%20speed%20or%20direction.

US Department of Commerce, NOAA. “Tornado Definition.” National Weather Service, NOAA's National

Weather Service, 20 Mar. 2015,

https://www.weather.gov/phi/TornadoDefinition#:~:text=Tornado%20%2D%20A%20violently

%20rotating%20column,reach%20300%20miles%20per%20hour.

“Tornado Basics.” NOAA National Severe Storms Laboratory,

https://www.nssl.noaa.gov/education/svrwx101/tornadoes/.