Chloe+Brown

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**HOW TORNADOES FORM**
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Before a thunderstorm starts, 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 thunderstorm updraft tilts the rotating air from horizontal to vertical. and area of rotating, 2-6 miles wide, now extends much through the storm. Most strong and violent tornadoes form within this area of strong rotation. A lower cloud based in the center of an area of rotating wall cloud. This area is often rain-free. Moments later a tornado forms in an area. Softball size hail and damaging winds also occur in this storm.

HOW TO BE SAFE DURING A TORNADO
There are 6 steps on how to be safe during a tornado. Step one: designate a place where your family will meet when a tornado is coming. Step two: You should put together an emergency kit with the following items: portable battery-operated radio, flashlights, extra batteries, and enough food and water to last a few days. Step three: Stay tuned in with the radio news for tornado warnings and watches. If the signal go's out than a tornado is headed your way. Step four: Crawl under a sturdy piece of furniture. Step five: Don't use electricity or gas until you know it is safe. And the last step to stay safe during a tornado is to make sure you look for hazardous situations after the tornado.





WHAT KINDS OF DAMAGES A TORNADO CAN CAUSE
A tornado can be very dangerous.At their most dangerous level, winds can reach speeds of 300mph. These types of winds can make automobiles become airborne, remove houses from their foundation, launch small objects that can become very deadly (there are tornado similators that can send a pencil through a peice of wood as thick or thicker than the pencil), and break windows causing glass to fly through the air. The most dangerous part about a tornado is the flying debris. The debris that's flying around is very dangerous and can hit somebody, knocking them out or even possibly killing them. This **Fujita Damage Chart**is very helpful! Take a look!

WHAT DIRECTION DO TORNADOES COME FROM
Tornadoes can come from ant direction.Most move from southwest to northeast, or west to east. Some tornadoes have changed direction amid path, or even backtracked.A tornado can double back suddenly, for example, when its bottom is hit by outflow winds from a thunderstorm's core. Some areas of the US //tend// to have more paths from a specific direction, such as northwest in Minnesota or southeast in coastal south Texas. This is because of an increased frequency of certain tornado-producing weather patterns say, hurricanes in south Texas, or northwest-flow weather systems in the upper Midwest.

WHAT TO DO AFTER A TORNADO
After a tornado, there is often a state of confusion. What should you after a tornado? If you see any injured people, or people with infants, the elderly, or the disabled help them. Provide any needed first aid, however; do not move anyone with serious injuries (such as a spine, neck, chest, or head injury) unless they are in extreme danger of being hurt by something else ( such as being in a damaged building, close to downed electric lines, or near some other such hazard). If you are any in sort of building that's damaged, or you smell chemicals or gases, get out immediately. If it's your house that's damaged, you can take pictures for insurance. Also remember to stay out of your house until you are told by authorities it's safe.



TYPES OF TORNADOES
LAND SPOUTS

Another name for a landspouts is a dust- tube tornado. A dust-tube tornado is a type of tornado that is of much lesser intensity as compared than a super cell tornado. They do not have any kind of association with mesocyclones. Even though a landspout is weaker form of a tornado, it yields quiet strong winds that are capable of inflicting massive damage. Usually a landspout is not in touch with the ground. However, when the tornado makes contact with the ground, it forms a thin layer of dust is formed.

FIRE WHIRLS

Sometimes the intense heat created by a major forest fire or volcanic eruption can create what is known as a firewhirl, a tornado-like rotating column of smoke and/or fire. This happens when the fire updraft concentrates some initial weak whirl or eddy in the wind. Winds associated with firewhirls have been estimated at over 100 mph. They are sometimes called fire tornadoes, fire devils, or even firenadoes.

SUPER CELL TORNADOES
Some of the most violent tornadoes develop from supercell thunderstorms. A supercell thunderstorm is a long-lived thunderstorm possessing within its structure a continuously rotating updraft of air. These storms have the greatest tendency to produce tornadoes, some of the huge wedge shape. The supercell thunderstorm has a low-hanging, rotating layer of cloud known as a “wall cloud.” It looks somewhat like a layer of a layer cake that hangs below the broader cloud base. One side of the wall cloud is often rain-free, while the other is neighbored by dense shafts of rain. The rotating updraft of the supercell is seen on radar as a “mesocyclone.”