Tornadoes
By: Ryan
Ever heard of the Fujita (Foo Gee tuh) scale? Its what measures the intensity of a tornado, sometimes called a twister. To learn more about the Fugita scale keep reading. Tornadoes have many forms, characteristics, and other unique information.
The three most well known forms of tornadoes are the water sprouts, dust devils and most well known is the regular tornado. A water sprout is a tornado that goes over a body of water. It is not connected to a super cell like most tornadoes but is a vortex in a funnel shape. If a there is a strong enough water sprout of a tornado goes over a small lake of other small body of water it might pick up some fish and leave them on dry land. A dust devil is more like a whirlwind then a tornado but can grow to a tornado. They range in size from a few meters tall and half a meter wide to more than 100 meters tall and 10 meters wide. Dust devils are usually harmless but can sometimes get large enough to harm people and properties.
There are some special conditions that must be present for a tornado to form. One of them is that there must be a very strong thunderstorm with strong winds blowing in opposite directions. There is almost always hail in the area of a tornado. There is an area in the United States where strong tornadoes are very common; this area is the central plain or "tornado valley" where 80% of tornadoes in the world’s tornadoes happen. There is a time where the conditions can occur at any time and 800 tornadoes happen in the United States in a year. This time called "tornado season" is in between the months of May and October, the spring months, but tornadoes can form at any time anywhere as long as the conditions are right
People have tried to measure and catch tornadoes in order to predict and prevent destruction. The professionals called "storm chasers" cannot even predict where a tornado can be produced within 24 hours and they use Doppler radar. Ted Fujita developed the Fujita scale in 1971 and it describes the intensity of tornadoes: an F1 tornado is the weakest and a F5 tornado is the strongest and most violent tornado. Only 2% of tornadoes are considered violent tornadoes on the Fujita scale, 29% are considered strong, and 69% are weak and most tornadoes only last 3-10 minutes. Most of the damages are from falling debris and the up to 300 mph wind and the wind speed is faster in narrower parts and slower in wider parts. Almost all tornadoes head east at 25-40 mph.
In conclusion tornadoes have unique forms, interesting facts, and characteristics. The characteristics of tornadoes still need to be researched so we can know more about them and be able to predict them further in advance. So let’s start researching!
1) “Storm." Compton's by Britannica. Encyclopedia Britannica Online School Edition. Encyclopedia Britannica, 2010. Web. 23 Feb. 2010 <http://school.eb.com/all/comptons/article-210625>.
2) Watts, Claire. Natural Disasters
New York: Dorling Kindersley Inc, 2006
3) “Storm." Compton's by Britannica. Encyclopedia Britannica Online School Edition. Encyclopedia Britannica, 2010. Web. 8 Mar. 2010 <http://school.eb.com/allcomptons/article-210625>.
4) Tornadoes…. Nature’s Most Violent Storms
http://www.nssl.noaa.gov/edu/safety/tornadoguide.html
5) Interesting facts about tornadoes
http://library.thinkquest.org/03oct/00544/english/tornadoes_facts.htm
6) National Geographic, Tornadoes
http://environment.nationalgeographic.com/environment/natural-disasters/tornado-profile/
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