Tornadoes:    n. a violently whirling column of air with wind of 100-300 miles per hour, extending downward from a cumulonimbus cloud in Australia and the central United States: almost always seen as a rapidly rotating, slender, funnel-shaped cloud that usually destroys everything along its narrow path.

       Tornadoes are violent windstorms exceeding 300 miles per hour. A very powerful tornado can pick up cattle, automobiles, and even sometimes pick up mobile homes into the air. Thankfully, most tornadoes are weak and not as devastating. A tornado is considered a cyclone. A cyclone refers to all spiral shaped windstorms that go clock-wise in the Southern Hemisphere and counter-clock-wise in the Northern Hemisphere. Cyclone is the Greek word for circle. For a tornado to develop, the winds at higher elevation must combine with the winds at a lower elevation. Such a difference of temperature is called a wind shear. The wind shear makes the rising column of air begin to rotate, forming a large, horizontal tube of swirling air. As the storm continues, this tube turns on end, forming a rotating column of air called a mesocyclone. A low, dark, heavy cloud called a wall cloud forms beneath the mesocyclone. A funnel develops out of the wall cloud forming the tornado. There is always lots of damage done by a tornado, but repairs can be made.