How a tornado is formed. The natural phenomenon of a tornado. Conditions of appearance and principle of operation

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✪ The most STRONG tornadoes in the history of mankind

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Hello! You are on the channel "Amazing Facts". Tornadoes, or, as they are called on the American continent, tornadoes, are one of the most mysterious and destructive phenomena of nature. This is an atmospheric vortex that occurs in a rain or thundercloud. It looks like a cloud funnel, spreads at an incredible speed and is capable of causing considerable destruction. Today we will talk about the most incredible tornadoes in the history of mankind! So it will be interesting - put likes and look further! The most powerful tornado, which had simply incredible wind speed and is listed in the Guinness Book of Records, was recorded in the USA in the town of Wichita Falls, Texas on April 2, 1958. The maximum wind speed was 450 km/h. The town through which the tornado "walked" was completely destroyed, the houses rose into the air, and some objects were transferred to a great distance. The tornado claimed the lives of 7 people, and 100 were injured. The damage from natural disaster has made 15 million dollars. The tragedy occurred in 1969, when the city of Dhaka was part of East Pakistan (now Bangladesh). The tornado hit the northeastern outskirts of the city. As a result, about 660 people died and a total of 4,000 were injured. And on that day, two tornadoes passed through the territory of modern Bangladesh. The second tornado swept through Khomna Upazila - the region of Comilla. These tornadoes were part of the same storm system, but after they formed, they separated. The second tornado killed 223 people. On May 20, 2013, a devastating tornado swept over the US state of Oklahoma. The storm cut through a strip 3 km wide and 27 km long. The hardest hit was Moore, a suburban town of about 56,000. Large swaths of the city were virtually wiped out by a tornado, which the National Weather Service categorizes as EF-4. The wind speed reached 267 km/h. The tornado lasted for 40 minutes. As a result of the disaster, 24 people died. More than 230 people were injured. Over the past decades, humanity has learned to predict the appearance of tornadoes, build reliable structures for protection and quickly evacuate in the event of a disaster. But June 2015 showed that, despite all the achievements, a person is still defenseless against the power of nature. A river cruise ship was taken by surprise by a terrible tornado that cost the lives of 442 passengers. Fortunately, other ships were warned of the approaching tornado and were not injured. The third deadliest tornado in human history to hit the United States is the 1925 Tri-State Tornado. This tornado had the highest Fujita score of F5 and spawned eight more tornadoes. As the name implies, on March 18, 1925, this tornado hit three states at once. The main blow was inflicted on the state of Missouri, then the hurricane moved to Illinois and completed its deadly procession in the state of Indiana. But the states of Alabama, Tennessee, Kentucky and Kansas were also among the victims. As a result, 695 people died, more than 2,000 were injured, and 50,000 people were left homeless. The action of the tornado lasted 3.5 hours, and the average speed of the funnel was 100 km/h. In 1996, the tornado collected its bloody victim in areas from Madarganj to Mrizapur. Moreover, no preparations and calculations of scientists could prevent the death of 700 people and the destruction of more than 80,000 houses. The number of people injured during this tornado remains unknown, but the death toll makes it the second deadliest tornado in human history. It is difficult to find a country that would have suffered from the consequences of a tornado, like Bangladesh. So (pause)... The Daulatpur-Salturia tornado is considered the deadliest and most destructive tornado in recorded human history. Due to the elements on April 26, 1989, about 1,300 people died in just a few minutes. A giant crater hit Manikganj, a densely populated area of Bangladesh. Prior to the tornado's descent, the country suffered from a drought for six months, a factor that scientists believe contributed to the formation of this tornado. Not surprisingly, a tornado, 1.5 kilometers wide, completely destroyed everything in its path. As a result, about 12,000 people were injured and a total of 80,000 were left homeless. For now, that's all. Subscribe to the channel "Amazing Facts" and see you soon!

Description

Inside the funnel, the air descends, and outside it rises, rotating rapidly. A region of highly rarefied air is created. The rarefaction is so significant that closed objects filled with gas, including buildings, can explode from the inside due to the pressure difference. This phenomenon enhances the destruction from the tornado, makes it difficult to determine the parameters in it. Determining the speed of air movement in a funnel is still a serious problem. Basically, estimates of this quantity are known from indirect observations. Depending on the intensity of the vortex, the flow velocity in it can vary. It is believed that it exceeds 18 m / s and, according to some indirect estimates, can reach 1300 km / h. The tornado itself moves along with the cloud that generates it. This movement can give speeds of tens of km/h, usually 20-60 km/h. According to indirect estimates, the energy of an ordinary tornado with a radius of 1 km and an average speed of 70 m / s is comparable to the energy of a standard atomic bomb, similar to the one that was blown up in the USA during Trinity tests in New Mexico on July 16, 1945. The record for the lifetime of a tornado can be considered the Mattoon tornado, which on May 26, 1917, passed 500 km across the United States in 7 hours and 20 minutes, killing 110 people. The width of the vague funnel of this tornado was 0.4-1 km, inside it a whip-like funnel was visible. Another famous case of a tornado is the tornado of the Three States (Tristate tornado), which on March 18, 1925 passed through the states of Missouri, Illinois and Indiana, having traveled 350 km in 3.5 hours. The diameter of its vague funnel ranged from 800 m to 1.6 km.

At the point of contact of the base of the tornado funnel with the surface of the earth or water, cascade- a cloud or column of dust, debris and objects picked up from the ground or water spray. During the formation of a tornado, the observer sees how a cascade rises from the ground towards the funnel descending from the sky, which then covers the lower part of the funnel. The term comes from the fact that the debris, having risen to a certain insignificant height, can no longer be held by the air flow and fall to the ground. The funnel, without touching the ground, can envelop case. Merging, the cascade, the case and the parent cloud create the illusion of a wider tornado funnel than it actually is.

Sometimes a whirlwind formed at sea is called a tornado, and on land it is called a tornado. Atmospheric whirlwinds, similar to tornadoes, but formed in Europe, are called blood clots. But more often all these three concepts are considered as synonyms.

Size and shape

Tornadoes can appear in many shapes and sizes. Most tornadoes appear as a narrow funnel (only a few hundred meters across), with a small cloud of debris close to the earth's surface. A tornado can be completely hidden by a wall of rain or dust. Such tornadoes are especially dangerous, as even experienced meteorologists cannot see them.

Appearance

Depending on the conditions in which they form, tornadoes can have a wide range of colors. Those that originate in a dry environment can be practically invisible and can be seen only by the debris swirling at the base of the funnel. Condensate funnels that pick up little or no debris can be gray to white. In the process of moving water through the funnel, the color of the tornado can become white or even deep blue. Slow-moving funnels, which have time to absorb a significant amount of debris and dirt, tend to be darker and take on the color of the accumulated debris. Tornadoes that cross the Great Plains can turn red due to the reddish hue of the soil, and tornadoes that originate in mountainous areas can overcome snow-covered areas, turning white.

Lighting conditions are the main factor that determines the color of a tornado. A tornado that is "lit" by the sun behind it is perceived as very dark. At the same time, a tornado, illuminated by the sun shining at the observer's back, may appear gray, white, or shiny. Tornadoes that occur at sunset have many different colors and shades of yellow, orange and pink.

Dust raised by a lightning squall, heavy rain and hail, and darkness of the night are factors that can reduce the visibility of a tornado. Tornadoes that occur in these conditions are especially dangerous, as they can only be detected using weather surveillance radars (or the sound of an approaching tornado can be a warning of impending danger to those caught in bad weather). The most significant tornadoes are formed by gale updrafts containing rainwater, making them visible. In addition, most tornadoes occur at the end of the day, when the bright sun can penetrate even the thickest clouds. At night, tornadoes are illuminated by frequent flashes of lightning.

Rotation

Reasons for education

The reasons for the formation of tornadoes have not been sufficiently studied so far. It is possible to indicate only some general information that is most characteristic of typical tornadoes.

A tornado can occur when warm air saturated with water vapor enters, when warm, moist air comes into contact with a cold, dry “dome” formed over cold areas of the earth (sea) surface. At the point of contact, water vapor condenses, and raindrops are formed and heat is released, which locally heats the air. The heated air rushes up, creating a rarefaction zone. The nearby warm humid air of the cloud and the underlying cold air are drawn into this rarefaction zone, which leads to an avalanche-like development of the process and the release of significant energy. As a result, a characteristic funnel is formed. Cold air drawn into the rarefaction zone is cooled even more. Going down, the funnel reaches the surface of the earth, everything that can be lifted by the air flow is drawn into the rarefaction zone. The rarefaction zone itself moves to the side where a larger volume of cold air comes from. The funnel moves, bizarrely curving, touching the surface of the earth. Precipitation is relatively small.

A hurricane occurs when incoming warm, moist air comes into contact with a region of cold air of a large volume, and the region of contact is of considerable extent. As a result, the process of mixing air masses and heat release occurs in an extended volume. The front of a hurricane passes along the line of contact with the earth's surface and moves in a direction transverse to its center line. On both sides of this line, cold air is drawn in, moving over the surface of the earth at high speed. When the front passes, intensive mixing of cold air, which was originally above the earth's surface, and incoming warm air occurs, while precipitation is significant and intense. After the passage of the front, the air temperature rises noticeably.

Destruction occurs due to the local release of significant energy accumulated during the formation of water vapor, and the initial source of energy is the radiation of the sun.

As the ocean temperature rises, the volume of water vapor in the atmosphere will increase. The continentality of the climate will also increase, as a result of this, the number of tornadoes and hurricanes will increase, as well as their strength.

When the volumes of cold or warm moist air are exhausted, the power of the tornado weakens, the funnel narrows and breaks away from the earth's surface, gradually rising back into the parent cloud.

The time of existence of a tornado is different and ranges from several minutes to several hours (in exceptional cases). The speed of tornadoes also varies, on average - 40-60 km/h (in very rare cases it can reach 480 km/h).

Places of formation of tornadoes

The second region of the globe where conditions for the formation of tornadoes arise is Europe (except for the Iberian Peninsula), and the entire European territory of Russia, with the exception of the northern regions.

Thus, tornadoes are mainly observed in the temperate zone of both hemispheres, approximately from the 60th parallel to the 45th parallel in Europe and the 30th parallel in the USA.

Tornadoes are also recorded in the east of Argentina, South Africa, the west and east of Australia and a number of other regions, where there may also be conditions for the collision of atmospheric fronts.

Tornado classification

scourge-like

This is the most common type of tornadoes. The funnel looks smooth, thin, and can be quite tortuous. The length of the funnel considerably exceeds its radius. Weak whirlwinds and whirlpools that descend on the water are, as a rule, whip-like whirlwinds.

vague

They look like shaggy, rotating clouds reaching the ground. Sometimes the diameter of such a tornado even exceeds its height. All craters of large diameter (more than 0.5 km) are indistinct. Usually these are very powerful whirlwinds, often compound ones. They cause enormous damage due to their large size and very high wind speeds.

Composite

May consist of two or more separate blood clots around the main central tornado. Such tornadoes can be of almost any power, however, most often they are very powerful tornadoes. They cause significant damage over vast areas. Most often formed on the water. These funnels are somewhat related to each other, but there are exceptions.

fiery

These are ordinary tornadoes generated by a cloud formed as a result of a strong fire or volcanic eruption. It was such tornadoes that were first artificially created by man (experiments by J. Dessen (Dessens,) in the Sahara, which continued in 1960-1962). "Absorb" the tongues of flame, which are drawn to the parent cloud, forming a fiery tornado. It can spread a fire for tens of kilometers. They are whip-like. Cannot be vague (the fire is not under pressure like whip-like tornadoes).

Water

These are tornadoes that have formed over the surface of the oceans, seas, in the rare case of lakes. They “absorb” waves and water into themselves, forming, in some cases, whirlpools that stretch towards the parent cloud, forming a water tornado. They are whip-like. Like fire tornadoes, they cannot be vague (the water is not under pressure, as in whip-like tornadoes).

earthen

These tornadoes are very rare, they form during destructive cataclysms or landslides, sometimes earthquakes above 7 points on the Richter scale, very high pressure drops, and the air is very rarefied. A whip-like tornado is located in a "carrot" (thick part) to the ground, inside a dense funnel, a thin trickle of earth inside, a "second shell" of earthen slurry (if a landslide). In the case of earthquakes, it lifts stones, which is very dangerous.

snowy

These are snow tornadoes during a heavy snowstorm.

sand whirlwinds

From the considered tornadoes it is necessary to distinguish "tornadoes" sandy ("dusty devils"), observed in deserts (Egypt, Sahara), as well as on Mars; unlike the previous ones, the latter are sometimes called thermal vortices. Similar in appearance to real tornadoes, the sand whirlwinds of the deserts have nothing in common with the former in terms of size, origin, structure and actions. Arising under the influence of local incandescence of the sandy surface by the sun's rays, sand whirlwinds are a real cyclone (barometric minimum) in miniature. A decrease in air pressure under the influence of heating, causing an influx of air from the sides to a heated place, under the influence of the rotation of the Earth, and even more - the incomplete symmetry of such an upward flow, forms a rotation that gradually grows into a funnel and sometimes, under favorable conditions, takes on quite impressive dimensions. Carried away by the vortex motion, the masses of sand rise in an upward motion in the center of the vortex into the air, and thus a sand column is created, which is like a tornado. In Egypt, such sand whirlwinds were observed up to 500 and even up to 1000 meters high with a diameter of up to 2-3 meters. With the wind, these vortices can move, carried away by the general movement of air. After holding out for some time (sometimes up to 2 hours), such a whirlwind gradually weakens and crumbles.

Affecting factors

Tornado Precautions

It is necessary to take cover in the most durable reinforced concrete structure with a steel frame, keeping near the strongest wall, also - the best shelter option is an underground shelter or cave. Staying in a car or in a trailer, given the large lifting force of a tornado, is deadly, it is also life-threatening to meet with the elements outdoors.

If a tornado caught a person in an open space, then you need to move at maximum speed perpendicular to the visible movement of the funnel. Or, if it is impossible to retreat, take cover in depressions on the surface (ravines, pits, trenches, road cuvettes, ditches, ditches) and press tightly to the ground face down, covering your head with your hands. This will greatly reduce the likelihood and severity of injury from tornado-borne objects and debris.

In a small one- or two-story private house, you can use the basement (here, in case of such an emergency, it is reasonable to place a supply of water and canned food in advance, as well as candles or LED lamps), if there is no basement, then you should stay in the bathroom or in the center of a small room on the lower floor, you can under solid furniture, but away from windows. It would be prudent to dress in tight clothes, taking money and documents with you. To prevent the house from exploding from the pressure drop caused by the air being injected by a whirlwind, it is recommended that all windows and doors be tightly closed on the side of the approaching tornado, and on the opposite side, open wide open and fix. According to safety precautions, it is desirable to shut off the gas and turn off the electricity.

Interesting facts from the chronicle of tornadoes

The first mention of a tornado in Russia dates back to 1406. The Trinity Chronicle reports that near Nizhny Novgorod, “a whirlwind is terribly bad” lifted a team into the air along with a horse and a man and carried it away so far that they became “invisible”. The next day, a cart and a dead horse were found hanging from a tree on the other side of the Volga, and the man was missing.
On May 30, 1879, the so-called "Irving tornado" lifted a wooden church into the air along with parishioners during a church service, moving it four meters to the side, after which it left. Panically frightened parishioners did not suffer significant damage, except for injuries from plaster and pieces of wood that fell from the ceiling.
On June 29, 1904, at 5 p.m., a tornado in Moscow uprooted and twisted all the trees (some up to a meter in coverage) of the Annenhof Grove, damaged Lefortovo, Sokolniki, Basmannaya Street, Mytishchi, sucked water from the Moscow River, exposing its bottom.
In 1923, in the state of Tennessee (USA), a tornado instantly destroyed and carried away the walls, ceiling and roof of a rural house, while the tenants sitting at the table escaped with a slight fright.
In 1940, a rain of silver coins was observed in the village of Meshchery, Gorky Region. It turned out that during a thunderstorm on the territory of the Gorky region, a treasure with coins was washed away. A tornado passing nearby lifted the coins into the air and threw them near the village of Meshchery.
In April 1965, 37 tornadoes of different power appeared simultaneously over the USA, up to 10 km high and about 2 km in diameter, with wind speeds up to 300 km per hour. These whirlwinds have caused tremendous destruction in six states. The death toll exceeded 250 people, and 2,500 were injured.
The highest wind speed on the surface of the Earth was recorded during a tornado in the United States that swept through the territories of Oklahoma and Kansas on May 3, 1999 - 511 km / h.
The largest tornadoes in the history of observations occurred in the state of Oklahoma of the United States of America during a series of tornadoes in the second half of May 2013. On May 20, a hurricane formed near the southern suburb of Oklahoma City - the city of Moore. The wind speed in it reached 322 km / h, the funnel diameter was about 3 km (the highest category EF5 was assigned according to the improved Fujita scale). Even more powerful was the tornado that passed through another suburb of Oklahoma City - the town of El Reno, on May 31, 2013. The wind speed in it reached 485 km / h with a funnel diameter of 4.2 km (category EF5, like a tornado in Moore). During this tornado, the most famous "tornado hunter" in the United States, Tim Samaras, along with his son Paul, as well as their colleague Carl Young, died.
In June 1984, several tornadoes of great strength swept through the central regions of the RSFSR. The strongest tornado, which caused great damage, was observed near the city of Ivanovo.

Current Research

Tornado films

Tornado Valley [ ]
Tornado horror in New York NYC: Tornado Terror)
nuclear tornado (English) Atomic Twister)
Superstorm (English) Superstorm (film))
The Day After Tomorrow (film)

Notes

Meaning word tornado (indefinite) . Retrieved 18 January 2017.
Soviet encyclopedic dictionary. - M.: "Soviet Encyclopedia", 1981. - 1600 p.
Nalivkin D.V. Tornadoes. - M. : Nauka, 1984. - 111 p.
"Smerch" // Etymological dictionary of the Russian language. / comp. M. R. Vasmer, - M .: Progress 1964-1973
S.P.Khromov, M.A.Petrosyants. Small-scale eddies (indefinite) . Meteorology and climatology. Retrieved June 8, 2009. Archived from the original on August 23, 2011.

Have you ever seen a column of dust or sand rising from the ground, like a dancing wriggling whip? If yes, rejoice - it was not a tornado. What you have seen is called a sand or dust whirlwind.

If we compare the danger it presents with the danger of a real tornado, it will be proportional to the danger of a toy tyrannosaurus rex compared to a living one. The energy contained in a true tornado is equivalent to the energy of a standard atomic bomb.

What is a tornado and where does it come from?

What is a tornado? It is known to us under different names - a tornado, a tornado, a blood clot - and is one of the most dangerous natural phenomena. In essence, it is nothing more than a thundercloud that has come down to earth to “dance”. The span of the "dance" at the surface of the earth can reach 3 kilometers, although usually it does not exceed 300-400 m.

What does a tornado look like? Like a huge funnel descending from heaven to earth. Around its lower part you can see a cloud of objects scattered by it, dirt, dust or water, if we are talking about a tornado over the water surface. Unlike the aforementioned sand or dust whirlwinds, the tornado is a single whole with - it can be said that its trunk descended to the ground. The tornado cannot tear itself away from it and become independent. Sand whirlwinds have nothing to do with clouds at all.

The reasons for the appearance of tornadoes are still not really studied. It is only known for certain that this natural phenomenon can occur if humid warm air comes into contact with the “dome” of cold dry air located above a cold piece of land or sea.

The mechanism of occurrence is approximately the following: at the point of contact, the steam contained in the warm stream condenses, while heat is released, heating the air in the contact zone, and, naturally, it rushes headlong upwards. Nature does not tolerate emptiness, as you know, and in its place warm moist air is drawn in and cold air below ... And off we go. We have already compared a tornado with an atomic bomb. It turns out that they have not so little in common, because what is happening cannot be called anything other than a chain reaction.

How is the notorious trunk, descending to the ground, formed? The fact is that the cold air drawn into the rarefaction zone cools even more and sinks down. And with it, the rarefaction zone itself descends, which, having reached the bottom, begins to draw in everything that comes into it and lift it up.

The main danger of a tornado is, firstly, that it can effortlessly lift a person to the very abyss of heaven, and then, having played enough, let him go in peace, and secondly, a section of rarefied air that abruptly came to visit you can cause the fact that your house will explode "for joy" and fill you with debris.

What should be done in case of a tornado?

Hide. Reinforced concrete bunker - the most it! Climb into it - and you are not afraid of any tornadoes! If you are in a car or some trailer, get out immediately, otherwise you will feel like Ellie from The Wizard of the Emerald City. But with a ninety-nine percent probability it can be predicted that everything will not end so well.

If you happen to meet this monster in the open space, you can congratulate yourself on the bad luck record: remember school physical education lessons and press the afterburner in the direction perpendicular to its movement. If this did not help and he did catch up with you (they sometimes spit at a speed of 60 km / h), become part of the landscape - squeeze into some kind of depression, hollow, gap in such a way that the area of \u200b\u200blow pressure does not have the opportunity to pull you in. After all, this requires the translational movement of air masses from the opposite side. Be sure to cover your head with your hands - you never know what kind of “gift” will fly from above.

If you're in a house that doesn't have a basement, take cover in the center of the room on the ground floor. Stay away from windows. Doors and windows on the side of the approaching tornado must be closed, and on the opposite side, on the contrary, open and fixed. This will avoid an explosion due to pressure drop. Turn off the electricity and shut off the gas.

How is a tornado different from a hurricane?

It often happens that a person does not really feel the difference between such concepts as a hurricane and a tornado. These are completely different things! A hurricane is a tropical cyclone that manifests itself in the form of strong winds, thunderstorms and heavy rain.

A tornado is, however, we have already described in detail what a tornado is. But, I must say, this confusion is not without reason - a hurricane can cause a tornado.

How is a tornado different from a tornado?

Nothing. It is often thought that a tornado and a tornado are two different things. None of these are synonyms. It's just that in some areas it is customary to call a tornado a land version of this phenomenon, and a sea tornado.

On TV, they often say that somewhere there was a tornado, somewhere - a tornado. All these are powerful whirlwinds that sweep away everything in their path. You wouldn't want your enemy to get into them either. But, looking at the photos and videos of these phenomena, one wants to learn more about them.

What is a tornado, what is a tornado?

A tornado and a tornado are powerful funnel-shaped whirlwinds that rotate at breakneck speed. They descend from the cumulonimbus cloud in the form of cone-shaped funnels that narrow towards the ground.

The height of the tornado can reach 10 km. The diameter of the widest part of the funnel is more than 50 km. Approaching, the whirlwind makes a sound reminiscent of the rumble of a train or the sound of a waterfall. On the way of its movement, it draws in all objects - both small and large.

How is a tornado formed and what types are there?

Where a tornado forms, there must be thunderstorms and pressure drops. Not surprisingly, tropical residents are the hardest hit by this natural disaster. First, a black thundercloud appears in the sky. The storm is gradually getting stronger. On one or several sides of the cloud, a vortex funnel is formed.

In different hemispheres, the tornado has its own characteristics. To the north of the equator, the funnel twists clockwise, to the south - counterclockwise. The vortex flow moves at a speed of 30 m/s or more. The "trunk" reaches the ground and spins into a giant funnel.

A tornado moves from place to place like a car. It feeds on large volumes of warm or cold air. When there are none left, the funnel begins to dissolve into the air. The "trunk" rises from the ground and flies higher and higher.

It is interesting to look at a tornado, because it can take any form:

- Beech-like. The funnel looks like a very narrow "trunk".

- vague. Reminds me of a swirl cloud.

- Composite. One huge tornado surrounded by several smaller whirlwinds.

- fiery. Formed at the site of a fire or an erupting volcano.

- Water. Occurs over the sea or ocean.

- Earthen. Formed at the site of an earthquake or landslide. The funnel draws in dirt, stones, sand.

- Snowy. Occurs in winter during a blizzard. A lot of snow falls into the funnel.

- Sandy. Appears on earth under the influence of sunlight. The wind lifts a column of sand into the air and forms a tornado-like funnel.

What is the difference between a tornado and a tornado?

Perhaps this will disappoint someone, but a tornado is practically no different from a tornado. In fact, these are just two synonyms that denote the same atmospheric phenomenon.

Vortices most often occur in North America. When the Spaniards who came to the mainland after the discovery of the New World saw them, they uttered the word "tornado". Translated from Spanish, it means "revolving", and this is exactly how the funnel behaves.

Sometimes a tornado is called a whirlwind that forms on the water, and a tornado is a funnel that swirls on the ground. But this is all - only the difference in the use of two words. In fact, they denote one natural disaster - a powerful and destructive whirlwind.

What does a tornado and a tornado look like

Want to see the whirlwind with your own eyes? Why not! In the photo below you can see what the tornado looks like. Formed on the water, it is rapidly approaching the land. You will not envy the sailors and people who decided to take a walk along the coast. It is good that such whirlwinds live only a few "minutes" and melt right before our eyes.

It looks like a tornado. In America, this is a frequent occurrence, so some are so bold that they stop along the way and watch a natural disaster. When a tornado forms, it also announces itself with a rumble, but, unfortunately, photographs do not convey sounds.

Tornado in Joplin

Throughout the history of mankind, people have been hit by multiple natural disasters more than once. One of the worst events was the emergence of a tornado that swept through the center of the city of Joplin in the United States.

According to eyewitnesses on May 22, 2011 at 17:45 local time, a powerful tornado appeared. It was the strongest tornado in the last hundred years, which easily demolished several dozen trucks, destroying radio and television stations in its path. The force of the tornado was so powerful that only mountains of garbage remained from the huge buildings. Rescuers worked tirelessly to free people trapped under the rubble of collapsed buildings. Fortunately, many of the victims were saved. A strong current of wind demolished roofs and roofs. People saw how a tornado uprooted trees, lifted up cars, which then flew into residential buildings and smashed against them like chips.

Tornado triggered by heat

Tornadoes are considered one of the most violent natural disasters. It is a narrow column of air, rotating at an incredible speed. The visible sign that distinguishes a tornado from a strong wind is a funnel. Garbage and dust rotate inside the tornado at great speed, which makes it large and noticeable. The diameter of the funnel is about a hundred meters from ground level, and is spinning at a speed of 150 to 500 kilometers per hour. The most frequent occurrences of tornadoes are seen in the central regions of America, but sometimes they also occur in India, less often in other countries.

A strong tornado that arose in the city of Joplin was provoked by abnormally hot weather + 38-40 degrees, which was established in this region of the United States and lasted for several days. Only in the last hundred years, the most frequent and strong tornadoes overtake areas of the United States. All this is connected, according to scientists, mainly with weather conditions, as well as with frequent climate change. In total, they distinguish about two varieties of tornadoes. The first type of occurrence is due to the strongest thunderstorm. The second type - occurs due to other weather conditions. A tornado that appears due to a thunderstorm is considered the most dangerous. Especially powerful tornadoes are formed as a result of a strong thunderstorm.

Supercells

The most destructive and deadly tornadoes are considered to be formations located under huge rain clouds. In the USA they are called "supercells". During rotation, these clouds form mesocyclones. It is they who bring severe thunderstorms, squally winds, large hail, downpours and, as a result, tornadoes. In history, the state of Texas suffers the most because of such tornadoes in the United States.

Only on May 11, 1953, a tornado in the center of Texas claimed the lives of one hundred and fourteen people and caused great destruction to the city. Another most terrible drama associated with a tornado happened again in the USA in 1925. Then the tornado passed through the territories of the states of Indiana, Illinois and Missouri, claiming the lives of six hundred and eighty-nine people. It is important to note that about a thousand tornadoes occur in the states of America every year. It is difficult to say the exact figure, because due to the occurrence in sparsely populated areas, they are not recorded.

The tornado season lasts from early spring to mid-summer. In some states, the tornado season occurs during the period of May, while in others it falls on June-July. Sometimes they can occur at any time of the year, depending on weather conditions.

A message about a tornado for children can be used in preparation for a geography lesson. A story about a tornado for children will help to find out what danger a tornado poses to human life.

Tornado Report

What is a tornado?

TORNADO- an atmospheric vortex that arises in a thundercloud and spreads down, often to the very surface of the Earth in the form of a dark cloud sleeve or trunk with a diameter of tens and hundreds of meters. There is not long, moving with the cloud.

When the Tornado descends to the earth's surface, its lower part also becomes expanded, similar to an overturned funnel.

The height of Tornadoes can reach 800-1500 m.
The wind speed inside the tornado reaches 480 km/h.

The air in it usually rotates counterclockwise, and at the same time it rises in a spiral upward, drawing in dust or water; rotation speed of several tens of meters per second. Due to the fact that inside the vortex the air pressure decreases, water vapor condenses there; this, together with the retracted part of the cloud, dust and water, makes the Tornado visible. The diameter of the Tornado over the sea is measured in tens of meters, over land hundreds of meters.

Reasons for the formation of tornadoes

Tornadoes are formed when two large air masses of different temperature and humidity collide, with warm air in the lower layers and cold air in the upper layers.

The record for the lifetime of a tornado can be considered the Mattoon tornado, which on May 26, 1917 traveled 500 km across the US in 7 hours and 20 minutes, killing 110 people.

A tornado is accompanied by a thunderstorm, rain, hail and, if it reaches the surface of the earth, it almost always causes great destruction, sucking in water and objects encountered on its way, lifting them high up and carrying them over considerable distances. A tornado at sea poses a great danger to ships. Tornadoes over land are sometimes called blood clots, in the US they are called tornadoes.

Types of tornadoes:

scourge-like

vague

Composite