yego.me
💡 Stop wasting time. Read Youtube instead of watch. Download Chrome Extension

Tornadoes 101 | National Geographic


2m read
·Nov 11, 2024

Tornadoes are big funnel-shaped clouds that can rip through a community and leave a wake of destruction. They can form in seconds, change direction in a heartbeat, and their devastation can last a lifetime. Exactly how and why tornadoes occur is still a bit of a mystery, but an indication that one is forming is a wall cloud. Fast-moving winds roll air below into a horizontal vortex above opposing surface, similar to a spinning top.

Warm by the Sun, buoyant air near the ground begins to lift a section of the horizontal vortex into a vertical position. The vortex extends toward the ground as it picks up speed. Anything in its path can be ripped apart or thrown in the air. Upper-level winds tilt the rotating updraft called a mesocyclone. This allows a storm to keep growing as warm air is sucked into the storm away from the cool downdraft.

The vortex spins like a top, sometimes up to 300 miles per hour. While some tornadoes move slowly, others can travel over the ground at speeds of over 110 miles per hour. The widest tornado ever recorded, the May 2013 El Reno tornado in Oklahoma, was 2.6 miles across; that's wider across than Manhattan.

Research has allowed us to identify the essential ingredients needed for twisters to form in the U.S.: warm moist air, typically from the Gulf of Mexico; cool air, typically from Canada; and dry air, typically from the Rockies. When these air masses collide, they create the perfect conditions for a tornado. Nearly three-quarters of the world's tornadoes occur in the United States, and the peak season is between May and June. A majority touchdown in Tornado Alley, a section of the central United States.

However, tornadoes have been recorded in all 50 states and on every continent except Antarctica. Tornadoes are very dangerous, and you should never underestimate their power. The average time between a tornado warning and a strike is estimated at a mere 13 minutes, giving residents little time to seek shelter.

On average, tornadoes kill 60 people every year in the United States. The deadliest tornado in history was not in the United States, but a tornado that ripped through Bangladesh in 1989, killing an estimated 1,300 people. We measure the amount of damage to land and property using the EF scale, which ranks tornadoes on six different levels, from zero—a heavy breeze that can uproot crops—to level five—enough wind to pick up a house.

It's the desire to better understand them that sends scientists into the field year after year in search of answers that can hopefully save lives while putting themselves at risk.

More Articles

View All
Zuckerberg and Senator Hawley clash in fiery child safety hearing
Mr. Zuckerberg, let me start with you. Did I hear you say in your opening statement that there’s no link between mental health and social media use? Senator, what I said is I think it’s important to look at the science. I know it’s people widely talk abo…
Selective incorporation | Civil liberties and civil rights | US government and civics | Khan Academy
Let’s talk a little bit about selective incorporation. So you are already likely familiar that the first ten amendments of the United States Constitution are the Bill of Rights. Bill of Rights, and especially the first eight of these, are all about protec…
What is Cool?
Hey, Vsauce Michael here, and a couple of weeks ago, Vice’s new channel Noisey blind folded me, the Gregory Brothers, about 200 other people, and then bused us to a hidden Skrillex show. It was cool, but what is cool? I mean, what does it mean to be cool?…
Cannabis 101 | National Geographic
(Gentle upbeat music) [Narrator] Cannabis, it’s the most frequently used illicit substance in the United States and arguably, one of the most controversial. Cannabis, or marijuana, is a drug derived from certain strains of the plant cannabis sativa. The …
Dan Siroker at Startup School 2013
Thank you. Uh, I have the privilege of saying this is my sixth Startup School, uh, and, uh, the first time as a presenter. Today, I’m going to be sharing with you what I would have wanted to hear the first five times, uh, while I was sitting in your seat…
After the Avalanche: Life as an Adventure Photographer With PTSD (Part 2) | Nat Geo Live
In the field, I feel so connected to everything, but then I’d come home and I would feel so disconnected, and I started to hate coming home because I wasn’t stimulated. I’d have to sit in this quietness and feel this pain, and I didn’t know where it was c…