A tornado is a violent, dangerous, rotating column of air which is in contact with both the surface of the earth and a cumulonimbus cloud Cumulonimbus is a type of cloud that is tall, dense, and involved in thunderstorms and other intense weather. It is a result of atmospheric instability. These clouds can form alone, in clusters, or along a cold front in a squall line. They create lightning through the heart of the cloud. Cumulonimbus clouds form from cumulus clouds (namely from or, in rare cases, the base of a cumulus cloud Cumulus clouds are a type of cloud with noticeable vertical development and clearly defined edges. Cumulus means "heap" or "pile" in Latin. They are often described as "puffy" or "cotton-like", or "poofy" in appearance. Cumulus clouds may appear alone, in lines, or in clusters. Cumulus clouds are. The most intense of all atmospheric phenomena, tornadoes come in many shapes and sizes but are typically in the form of a visible condensation funnel A funnel cloud is a funnel-shaped cloud of condensed water droplets, associated with a rotating column of wind and extending from the base of a cloud but not reaching the ground or a water surface. A funnel cloud is usually visible as a cone-shaped or needle like protuberance from the main cloud base. Funnel clouds form most frequently in, whose narrow end touches the earth and is often encircled by a cloud of debris In geology, debris usually applies to the remains of geological activity including landslides, volcanic explosions, avalanches, mudflows or Jökulhlaups, lahars, and lava eruptions. Geological debris sometimes moves in a stream called a debris flow and dust Dust is a general name for minute solid particles with diameters less than 20 thou . Particles in the atmosphere arise from various sources such as soil dust lifted up by wind, volcanic eruptions, and pollution. Dust in homes, offices, and other human environments contains human skin cells, small amounts of plant pollen, human and animal hairs,. Most tornadoes have wind speeds between 40 mph (64 km/h) and 110 mph (177 km/h), are approximately 250 feet (75 m) across, and travel a few miles (several kilometers) before dissipating. The most extreme can attain wind speeds of more than 300 mph (480 km/h), stretch more than a mile (1.6 km) across, and stay on the ground for dozens of miles (more than 100 km).[1][2][3]
Various types of tornadoes include the landspout A landspout is a slang-term coined by meteorologist Howard B. Bluestein in 1985 for a kind of tornado not associated with the mesocyclone of a thunderstorm. The Glossary of Meteorology defines a landspout as, multiple vortex tornado, and waterspout. Waterspouts A waterspout is an intense columnar vortex that occurs over a body of water and is connected to a cumuliform cloud. In the common form, it is a non-supercell tornado over water. While it is often weaker than most of its land counterparts, stronger versions spawned by mesocyclones do occur. Contrary to popular belief that waterspouts suck up water, have similar characteristics to tornadoes, characterized by a spiraling funnel-shaped wind current that form over bodies of water, connecting to large cumulus and thunderstorm clouds. Waterspouts are generally classified as non-supercellular A supercell is a thunderstorm that is characterized by the presence of a mesocyclone; a deep, continuously-rotating updraft. Of the four classifications of thunderstorms , supercells are the overall least common and have the potential to be the most severe. Supercells are often isolated from other thunderstorms, and can dominate the local climate tornadoes that develop over bodies of water.[4] These spiraling columns of air frequently develop in tropical areas close to the equator The equator is the intersection of the Earth's surface with the plane perpendicular to the Earth's axis of rotation and containing the Earth's center of mass. In simpler language, it is an imaginary line on the Earth's surface equidistant from the North Pole and South Pole that divides the Earth into a Northern Hemisphere and a Southern Hemisphere, and are less common at high latitudes.[5] Other tornado-like phenomena which exist in nature include the gustnado, dust devil A dust devil is a strong, well-formed, and relatively long-lived whirlwind, ranging from small to large (more than 10 meters wide and more than 1000 meters tall). The primary vertical motion is upward. Dust devils are usually harmless, but rare ones can grow large enough to threaten both people and property, fire whirls A fire whirl, colloquially fire devil or fire tornado, is a rare phenomenon in which a fire, under certain conditions , acquires a vertical vorticity and forms a whirl, or a tornado-like effect of a vertically oriented rotating column of air. Fire whirls may be whirlwinds separated from the flames, either within the burn area or outside it, or a, and steam devil A steam devil is the term used to describe a rotating updraft that involves steam or smoke. Steam devils usually occur above power plants, and rarely occur elsewhere, though they may occur in deserts or other dry and arid locations. Hot springs may also be a suitable area for a steam devil to form. Cold air steam devils have also been reported,.
Tornadoes are detected through the use of Pulse-Doppler radar Pulse-Doppler is a radar system capable of not only detecting target location , but also measuring its radial velocity (range-rate). It uses the Doppler effect to determine the relative velocity of objects; pulses of RF energy returning from the target are processed to measure the frequency shift between carrier cycles in each pulse and the though the use of velocity data and reflectivity patterns such as a hook echo, as well as by the efforts of storm spotters. Tornadoes have been observed on every continent except Antarctica. However, the vast majority of tornadoes in the world occur in the Tornado Alley Tornado Alley is a colloquial term that most often refers to the area of the United States where tornadoes are most frequent. Although an official location is not defined, the areas in between the Rocky Mountains and Appalachian Mountains are generally associated with the phrase region of the United States, although they can occur nearly anywhere in North America.[6] They also occasionally occur in south-central and eastern Asia, the Philippines The Philippines officially known as the Republic of the Philippines and Republika ng Pilipinas, is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. To its west across the South China Sea is Vietnam. The Sulu Sea to the southwest separates it from the island of Borneo and to the south the, east-central South America, Southern Africa Southern Africa is the southernmost region of the African continent, variably defined by geography or geopolitics. Within the region are numerous territories, including the Republic of South Africa ; nowadays, the simpler term South Africa is generally reserved for the country in English, northwestern and southeast Europe, western and southeastern Australia, and New Zealand.[7]
There are several different scales for rating the strength of tornadoes. The Fujita scale The Fujita scale, or Fujita-Pearson scale, is a scale for rating tornado intensity, based on the damage tornadoes inflict on human-built structures and vegetation. The official Fujita scale category is determined by meteorologists (and engineers) after a ground and/or aerial damage survey; and depending on the circumstances, ground-swirl patterns ( rates tornadoes by damage caused, and has been replaced in some countries by the updated Enhanced Fujita Scale. An F0 or EF0 tornado, the weakest category, damages trees but not substantial structures. An F5 or EF5 tornado, the strongest category, rips buildings off their foundations and can deform large skyscrapers A skyscraper is a tall, continuously habitable building. There is no official definition or height above which a building may clearly be classified as a skyscraper. Most cities define the term empirically; even a building of 80 meters may be considered a skyscraper if it protrudes above its built environment and changes the overall skyline.[. The similar TORRO scale The TORRO tornado intensity scale is a scale measuring tornado intensity between T0 and T11. It was developed by Terence Meaden of the Tornado and Storm Research Organisation (TORRO), a meteorological organisation in the United Kingdom, as an extension of the Beaufort scale ranges from a T0 for extremely weak tornadoes to T11 for the most powerful known tornadoes.[8] Doppler radar A weather radar, or weather surveillance radar , is a type of radar used to locate precipitation, calculate its motion, estimate its type (rain, snow, hail, etc.), and forecast its future position and intensity data, photogrammetry Photogrammetry is the first remote sensing technology ever developed in which geometric properties about objects are determined from photographic images. Photogrammetry is as old as modern photography and can be dated to the mid-nineteenth century, and ground swirl patterns (cycloidal marks) may also be analyzed to determine intensity and award a rating.[9]
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 news.google.com Hillsboro Argus - OregonLive.com The shot was set up when North Medford's Michael Bradshaw gave the Black Tornado a 54-52 lead with 1.3 seconds left in the game. Brassel grabbed the inbound ... and more »  tarrantcounty.com 300px x 448px | 31.10kB [source page] When a tornado warning has been issued you may have very little time to prepare How you respond now is critical obey advisories promptly  bret.appspot.com Bret Taylor hu, 10 Sep 2009 17:07:51 GM Today, we are open sourcing the non-blocking web server and the tools that power FriendFeed under the name . Tornado. Web Server. We are really excited to open source this project as a part of Facebook's open source initiative, ... What would the safest place in my house be during a tornado?
Q. My house has a basement, but it is a walkout basement, so not all of it is underground. The only corner that is completely underground is the one that a tornado would most likely be approaching, which experts say is not safe. There is center part of the basement that is directly under a staircase, which might be safe. Would that be best and safest? Asked by Spongebob Squarepants - Sat Jul 12 10:15:07 2008 - - 18 Answers - 0 Comments A. Tornados destroy houses in 2 ways. 1. By high winds that suck them off the ground. 2. Low air pressure which causes them to collapse. Basically you need to be somewhere that you won't be lifted off into the air or a place which won't fall on you. The most structurually strong part of the house is often the best place to be (eg, in earthquakes people are told to crouch in a door frame). The bathroom is usually the smallest room and so the strongest. It is less likely to be torn apart and less likely to collapse. Another place would bea storage space under concrete or strong steel stairs. Possibly there is a part of your basement that fits this bill. If you are uncertain call the local emergency services and ask them. They would… [cont.] Answered by flingebunt - Sat Jul 12 11:23:50 2008 [Hide]▲
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