Download DONE Tornado facts Handout

Tornadoes Facts
















A tornado is defined as an intense, rotating funnel or rope of air that descends from a
cumulonimbus cloud and touches the ground in the form of a violent storm.
A tornado is also known as a twister.
A tornado starts when cold, dry air coming from the west catches up with unusually warm,
moist air from the south. The result is a whirling wind with thick, black clouds and
thunderstorms.
A thunderstorm may draw up air from the ground, creating unstable combinations of rising
and falling air and resulting in a violent rotating storm. The air beneath the storm begins to
twist around. The spinning air may take the shape of a funnel. The rotating winds pick up
speed, sometimes reaching 700 kilometers an hour. If the storm touches the ground, it
becomes a tornado. A tornado moves across the surface of the earth, spinning.
Tornadoes move swiftly and are destructive. They can destroy buildings and carry heavy
objects hundreds of meters.
A tornado is a vortex, or spiral motion of fluid. In the case of a tornado, the fluid is air.
The tornado spins, smashing and destroying, until all the heated air that was near land has
been squeezed up by the cooler, heavier, inflowing air. Then the air stops flowing and the
tornado dies.
More tornadoes occur in the central U.S. than anywhere else in the world.
Most tornadoes occur on hot, humid spring days.
Tornadoes can strike at any time, but they usually occur during the warmest part of the day
when thunderstorms are also developing.
The winds of a tornado are the most violent winds on earth; they may whirl around at speeds
of 100 to 500 miles per hour (644 kph).
The path of a tornado is often only as wide as a city block.
A tornado can hover over one spot for up to 45 minutes.
The winds of a tornado have been known to pluck feathers off a chicken, lift buildings from
their foundations, and even suck all the water from a small pond causing frogs and fish to
rain from the sky.
A tornado watch is issued when tornadoes can form because of the weather conditions.
A tornado warning is issued when an individual spots an actual tornado or one is picked up
by weather radar.