TORNADOESBy: Nicholas Brooks

WHAT ARE TORNADOES?“A tornado is a violently rotating column of air that is

in contact with both the surface of the earth and a

cumulonimbus cloud or, in rare cases, the base of a

cumulus cloud. They are often referred to as twisters or

cyclones, although the word cyclone is used in

meteorology, in a wider sense, to name any closed low

pressure circulation”.

What Causes Tornadoes

“Most tornadoes form from thunderstorms. You need

warm, moist air from the Gulf of Mexico and cool, dry air

from Canada. When these two air masses meet, they

create instability in the atmosphere. A change in wind

direction and an increase in wind speed with increasing

height creates an invisible, horizontal spinning effect in the

lower atmosphere. Rising air within the updraft tilts the

rotating air from horizontal to vertical. An area of rotation,

2-6 miles wide, now extends through much of the storm.

Most strong and violent tornadoes form within this area of

strong rotation”.

THE FOLLOWING TOOLS TO IDENTIFY TORNADOES ARE…..

What are the effects

“Impact of tornadoes. Like all natural disasters such as

hurricanes, earthquakes, floods and others, they end up

with massive destruction to homes, property, infrastructure

and cause many deaths as well. Each year, about 60

people are killed by tornadoes, mostly from airborne

debris”.

WHERE THE MOSTLY OCCUR

Tornadoes mostly occur in

“Most tornadoes are found in the Great Plains of the

central United States”

(Map on next

Slide)

HOW TO AVOID TORNADOES

One thing you have to do is protect yourself is to have your roof

inspected yearly.

If your on a road DON’T hide under a overpass. The tornado will break

through causing the rubble to fall on you and may have a chance to

crush you.

HOW TORNADOES ARE MEASURED

The Fuijita scale is used to measure tornadoes.

The Fuijita scale measures tornadoes by using EF 1-5

Also certain shows chase storms and measure them

from a safe distance.

http://tornadochaser.net/safety.html

eschooltoday.com/natural-disasters/tornadoes/impact-of-tornadoes.html

http://www.weatherwizkids.com/?page_id=60

https://en.wikipedia.org

Thanks for watchingWatch out for

tornadoes!!