A Tornado is a very tall, funnel-shaped whirlwind that can be as high as 2,000 feet. The strong upward current of the tornado sucks up or destroys everything in its path. It has, in its centre a current of descending air vastly different to the destructive upward current that surrounds it. The centre of a tornado can be quite carm, totally different to what is going on around it.

Tornados can be extremely devastatng, as the picture below shows.


Tornado, click on the picture for a larger image (opens in a new window)


Devastation of a Tornado, click on the picture for a larger image (opens in a new window)

Sometimes accompanying tornadoes are large fist sized pieces of hail spawned by super cells! Tornadoes form from Super cells although only 30 percent of super cells actually spawn tornadoes!

One myth about tornadoes is opening windows will decrease the severity of damage done to houses when in fact it will be less helpful to the building!

Tornadoes have measurement! These measurements are: (F stands for Fujita!)

F0 the least dangerous rating windspeed: 0-73 mph

F1 73-112 mph

F2 113-157 mph

F3 158-206 mph

F4 207-260 mph

F5 261-318 mph This is the most violent type of storm and can knock strong buildings!!!

Most tornadoes take on the shape of a long funnel most times a few hundred yards across. They come in many colours such as, some can be nearly invisible marked only by a base of swirling debris. Condensation tunnels pick up little or no debris at all come in grey to white colours. Tornadoes travelling over a vast body of water may be an intense white or even blue!  Tornadoes going across the great plain can turn red like the colour of the soil and tornadoes going over mountains can turn a perfect snowy white


If you would like to read a poem about a tornado, please click here or on the image to the right.
 
   
 
 

References:

http://mmem.spschools.org/

http://www.sxc.hu/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tornadoes

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/5328524.stm