Tornados are powerful vortexes that form from storm clouds and touch down from the cloud with a narrow end, whipping at speeds up to 110 mph. They can destroy homes, uproot trees, and endanger people as they rip through an area with rain and wind. Tornados begin as clouds which then shoot down a vortex when warm air hits the cloud, forming the spinning tornado. One example is the 1999 Salt Lake City tornado that injured 80 people and damaged a building, disproving ideas that tornadoes can't happen in some regions.