Гончар Валентина Павлівна

1. TORNADO

2. Tornado is
A tornado is a violent, dangerous, rotating column of air that is in
contact with both the surface of the earth and a cumulonimbus
cloud or, in rare cases, the base of a cumulus cloud. They are often
referred to as a twister or a cyclone, although the word cyclone is
used in meteorology in a wider sense, to name any closed low
pressure circulation. Tornadoes come in many shapes and sizes, but
are typically in the form of a visible condensation funnel, whose
narrow end touches the earth and is often encircled by a cloud of
debris and dust. Most tornadoes have wind speeds less than 110
miles per hour (177 km/h), are approximately 250 feet (76 m)
across, and travel a few miles (several kilometers) before
dissipating. The most extreme tornadoes can attain wind speeds of
more than 300 mph (480 km/h), stretch more than two miles (3.2
km) across, and stay on the ground for dozens of miles (more than
100 km)

3. Various types of tornadoes include the landspout, multiple vortex
tornado, and waterspout. Waterspouts are characterized by a
spiraling funnel-shaped wind current, connecting to a large cumulus
or cumulonimbus cloud. They are generally classified as non-
supercellular tornadoes that develop over bodies of water. These
spiraling columns of air frequently develop in tropical areas close to
the equator, and are less common at high latitudes. Other tornado-
like phenomena that exist in nature include the gustnado, dust devil,
fire whirls, and steam devil.
Tornadoes have been observed on every continent except Antarctica.
However, the vast majority of tornadoes in the world occur in the
Tornado Alley region of the United States, although they can occur
nearly anywhere in North America. They also occasionally occur in
south-central and eastern Asia, the Philippines, south east Asia, like
Malaysia, northern and east-central South America, Southern Africa,
northwestern and southeast Europe, western and southeastern
Australia, and New Zealand.Tornadoes can be detected before or as
they occur through the use of Pulse-Doppler radar by recognizing
patterns in velocity and reflectivity data, such as hook echoes, as well
as by the efforts of storm spotters.

4. There are several different scales for rating the strength
of tornadoes. The Fujita scale rates tornadoes by
damage caused, and has been replaced in some
countries by the updated Enhanced Fujita Scale. An F0
or EF0 tornado, the weakest category, damages trees,
but not substantial structures. An F5 or EF5 tornado,
the strongest category, rips buildings off their
foundations and can deform large skyscrapers. The
similar TORRO scale ranges from a T0 for extremely
weak tornadoes to T11 for the most powerful known
tornadoes. Doppler radar data, photogrammetry, and
ground swirl patterns (cycloidal marks) may also be
analyzed to determine intensity and assign a rating.

5. Etymology
The word tornado is an altered form of the Spanish
word tronada, which means "thunderstorm". This in turn
was taken from the Latin tonare, meaning "to thunder". It
most likely reached its present form through a combination
of the Spanish tronada and tornar ("to turn"); however, this
may be a folk etymology A tornado is also commonly
referred to as a "twister", and is also sometimes referred to
by the old-fashioned colloquial term cyclone. The term
"cyclone" is used as a synonym for "tornado" in the often-
aired 1939 film, The Wizard of Oz. The term "twister" is also
used in that film, along with being the title of the 1996
tornado-related film Twister.

6. This tornado has no
funnel cloud; however,
the rotating dust cloud
indicates that strong
winds are occurring at the
surface, and thus it is a
true tornado.
A tornado near Seymour,
Texas
A wedge tornado, nearly a mile
wide.This tornado hit Binger,
Oklahoma.

8. Top 10 Killer Tornadoes
1
March 18, 1925
The Tri-State Tornado was by far the worst in U.S. history. It
wreaked havoc for more than three hours. Records were
set for both speed and path length. Tornado damage
stretched from Reynolds, Iron, Madison, Bollinger, Cape
Girardeau and Perry counties in Missouri, through Jackson,
Williamson, Franklin, Hamilton, and White counties in
Illinois and Posey, Gibson and Pike counties in Indiana. The
worst devastation was in Illinois, where the town of
Gorham was destroyed. In Murphysboro, 25 deaths
occurred in three schools, with students crushed under
falling brick and stone walls.

9. 2
May 7, 1840
The Natchez
Tornado touched down
in Concordia Parish,
Louisiana, and Adams
County, Mississippi.
Most of the deaths
occurred on the
Mississippi River, since
the tornado tracked for
some time directly over
the waterway. The
death toll from the
tornado is undoubtedly
higher than officially
listed, as many slave
deaths were probably
not included in the total.
3
May 27, 1896
The St. Louis Tornado touched
down six miles west of Eads Bridge.
Buildings and homes along the
river were swept away or
damaged, although the steel span
bridge was largely undamaged.
4
April 5, 1936
The Tupelo Tornado began near
Coffeeville, Yalobusha County. It leveled
hundreds of houses and killed entire
families. A movie theater was turned into
a hospital with the popcorn machine used
to sterilize instruments. One hundred-five
box cars were brought into town to serve
as temporary housing

10. 5
April 6, 1936
The Gainesville Tornado,
actually a pair of
tornadoes, hit at the start
of the work day. The
funnel clouds took
different paths into the
city, but converged in a
four-block area that was
destroyed. Debris filled
the streets up to 10 feet
deep and about 750
houses were destroyed.
The Cooper Pants Factory,
a multi-story building,
collapsed and caught fire,
killing about 70 workers.
6
April 9, 1947
The Woodward Tornado hit Gray, Roberts, Hemphill,
Lipscomb counties in Texas, Ellis, Woodward and Woods
counties in Oklahoma and Barber and Kingman counties
in Kansas. Along much of its path, the tornado was
reportedly one to two miles wide. The entire town of
Glazier and most of Higgins was destroyed.

11. 7
April 24, 1908
The Amite/Pine/Purvis
Tornado hit Louisiana,
Mississippi. It was
reported to be two miles
wide. Only seven of 150
homes in Purvis County
were reported left
standing.
8
June 12, 1899
The New Richmond Tornado in Wisconsin began as a
waterspout on Lake St. Croix, then moved northeast
in the direction of New Richmond. The massive
amount of flying debris result in multiple deaths and
a 3,000 pound safe was carried a block by the winds.
More than 300 buildings were damaged or
destroyed.

12. 9
June 8, 1953
The Flint Tornado destroyed homes on both sides of Coldwater Road and killed
multiple family members of at least 20 families in Michigan.

13. 10
May 11, 1953
The Waco Tornado in Texas destroyed 200 business
buildings and damaged another 400, including a
six-story furniture store that collapsed.