Why do tornadoes and tornadoes occur? What is a natural tornado phenomenon. Why tornadoes are so dangerous for the inhabitants of the planet

02.05.2020

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✪ The most STRONG tornadoes in the history of mankind

Subtitles

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 force 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 along 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 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 moist 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 large volume of cold air, and the area of contact is of considerable length. 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 the 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 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-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 turn 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 Annengof 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.

One of the most destructive phenomena of nature is a tornado. How it is formed, sweeping away everything in its path, has not yet been fully clarified. The main reason for its appearance is the collision of warm and cold air flows. A tornado usually forms during a thunderstorm and is accompanied by rain or hail. There are cases when a vortex is fenced off by a veil of rain, and this factor makes such a phenomenon even more dangerous, as it makes the funnel invisible to the eyes, and people have less and less time to hide from a tornado. How an incredible threat to life is formed in this case does not need to be explained for a long time.

When a tornado forms, the air temperature drops sharply. It only takes a few minutes for it to become noticeable. Soon you can observe the appearance of the culprit of the "triumph" - a tornado. How his "body" is formed is another interesting and frightening process. A kind of trunk begins to descend from heaven to earth, which, when it reaches its surface, turns into a deadly phenomenon. By the way, a tornado can have a variety of forms. It can be the shape of a column, a cone, a glass, a barrel, or a whip-like rope. In addition, a tornado can take the form of either the so-called "devil's horns" (these are vortices with several funnels), as well as many other shapes. However, most often observed such hurricanes have the form of a rotating trunk, pipe or funnel.

The speed of rotation of air masses inside the funnel can reach 450 kilometers per hour. In addition, a tornado "sucks" into itself everything that comes in its path. It is also dangerous that the air that is inside the funnel descends. And those outside, on the contrary, rise. Thus, an area is created strongly due to which objects filled with gas, and sometimes residential buildings, can simply explode.

Places of appearance of a tornado (how this phenomenon is already known) can be different. But the North American continent was especially "lucky" to observe such whirlwinds. The central states of the USA are the most subject to "attack" of a tornado; the eastern states have an easier life in this sense. For example, the state of Florida has gained fame as the "land of waterspouts." Whirlwinds come here from the sea almost every day.

Incredible strength and power was also possessed by a tornado in Oklahoma, which "walked" through the state on May 20, 2013. The diameter of the funnel of this vortex was three kilometers, and inside it reached 320 kilometers per hour. This tornado destroyed two schools in which classes were going on at that time, as well as a hospital.

The number of victims was simply huge, and the material damage caused amounted to three billion dollars. This 2013 tornado received the maximum severity rating of EF-5 on the strength rating scale.

It should be noted that very often the so-called "tornado hunters" become victims of these dangerous phenomena. These are desperate and courageous (or stupid?) people who shoot tornadoes at the closest possible distance. There were times when these daredevils managed to capture even the epicenter of the whirlwind. However, whether these pictures and videos are worth putting your life in such danger - everyone decides this question for himself.

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 understood. 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 lies, firstly, in the fact that it can effortlessly lift a person to the very depths 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 low 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.

In fact, many of the disasters we may face are caused by natural phenomena and human will.

Putting fear and superstition aside, people are facing one of the most amazing sights in the natural world. These winding storm columns can reach wind speeds of up to 320 km per hour, destroying homes and buildings in the process and are called tornadoes or waterspouts.

However, in some parts of the world, these powerful tornadoes are a common occurrence. The United States alone experiences more than 1,000 such natural events per year, and tornadoes have been reported on every continent except Antarctica. perhaps these natural phenomena.

What is a tornado

The natural phenomenon of a tornado is a violently rotating column of air that descends with a thunderstorm to the ground. No other weather phenomenon can match the fury and destructive power. This natural phenomenon can be strong enough to destroy large buildings, leaving only a bare concrete foundation. In addition, they can lift 20-ton railway cars from their tracks, and turn ordinary cars into flying ones.

A tornado is a really complex natural phenomenon and does not even provide an explanation. They only form if the storm begins to spin vertically, a corkscrew of air rising high into the sky. Scientists believe that the rotation begins due to wind shear, rapid changes in wind speed or direction at different levels of the atmosphere.

Imagine a piece of plasticine between your hands. If you move this plasticine in opposite directions, it rises between the hands into a tube.

The difference between a hurricane, a tornado and a tornado

The natural phenomenon of a tornado is a rapidly rotating column of air that extends from a thunderstorm cumulonimbus cloud to the ground. The natural phenomenon is often (but not always) visible as a funnel cloud. It is important never to be confused with a hurricane or other tropical cyclone because tornadoes and hurricanes are very different natural phenomena. Perhaps the only similarity between them is that they both contain strong rotating winds that can wreak havoc.

If hurricanes are nature's nuclear warhead, then tornadoes are nature's smart bomb.

There is no difference between a tornado and a tornado, since a tornado is a translation into Russian.

However, there are many differences between tornadoes and hurricanes. A large tornado is observed up to 4 km wide, and most< 0.8 км в ширину. Материнские грозовые облака, которые образуют это явление, обычно имеют ширину около 16 км. Однако ураганы, как правило, намного больше, от примерно 160 км до 1600 км в ширину.

The life of a tornado is short, from a few seconds to a few hours. In contrast, a hurricane's life cycle can span anywhere from a few days to a few weeks. The thunderclouds that produce them require strong vertical wind shear and strong horizontal temperature changes. Hurricanes thrive in regions where there is little vertical wind shear and little horizontal change in atmospheric temperature. Also, strong tornadoes usually form over land, while hurricanes almost always form over the ocean.

Finally, the strongest tornadoes can have winds over 300 km/h, but even the strongest hurricanes rarely produce winds over 250 km/h.

Individual clouds brought in by a hurricane can trigger tornadoes when the hurricane makes landfall in some cases, within a few days of making landfall. A tornado is likely to occur in a specific quadrant of the hurricane. Some studies indicate that the selected quadrant most often represents the forward right quadrant of the hurricane's direction of propagation, but other studies indicate that the NE quadrant is preferred for the event to form regardless of the direction of the hurricane's propagation. Despite this, tornadoes usually form in the part of the hurricane where the vertical wind shear is greatest. If the hurricane interacts with the front or it absorbs unstable air, development will become more favorable. Some hurricanes may not produce tornadoes, while others develop several impacts on Earth.

In general, tornadoes associated with hurricanes are relatively weak and short-lived, especially when compared to those that occur on the US plains. However, the effects of this natural phenomenon, added to the effects of hurricane-force winds, can cause massive damage.

Where do tornadoes most often occur?

This natural phenomenon occurs most often in the United States when warm, humid winds move north from the Gulf of Mexico in spring and summer, where they meet cold, dry southern Canadian fronts.

In the spring and summer months, southerly winds prevail on the plains. At the source of these southerly winds lie the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico, which provide much of the warm, moist air necessary for intense thunderstorm development. Hot, dry air forms over higher elevations to the west and becomes a lid as it spreads east over moist bay air. Dry air and Gulf air meet near land, where a boundary known as the dry line forms west of Oklahoma.

Tornadoes are the most powerful tornadoes in nature. On average, 800 tornadoes are reported each year, resulting in about 80 deaths and 1,500 injuries. It is a global phenomenon affecting people on every continent except Antarctica.

How are tornadoes formed?

The truth is that scientists don't fully understand how they form. As a rule, tornadoes develop several thousand meters above the earth's surface inside a huge rotating thundercloud. This thunderstorm contains a very strong rotating updraft. It is this rotation that tightens everything along the way.

A tornado starts as a funnel cloud extending from thunderclouds. The funnel from the cloud becomes visible due to water droplets, but in some cases it may appear invisible due to lack of moisture. When the funnel cloud is halfway between the base and the ground, a "tornado" begins.

High-speed winds rotate around a small, relatively calm center and suck out dust and debris, making this natural phenomenon darker and more visible.

What is the path length of a tornado? How long will they last? How fast are they moving?

The trajectories of this natural phenomenon range from 100 meters to 4 kilometers wide and rarely exceed 20 kilometers in length. They can last from a few seconds to more than an hour, but most of them do not exceed 10 minutes. Most travel from the southwest to the northeast at an average speed of 50 km per hour, but speeds range from almost no movement to 100 km per hour.

When and where do tornadoes occur?

Most tornadoes occur in a relatively flat basin between mountain and sea, but no state is immune. Peak months of activity are April, May and June. A typical time of attack is a rather warm and sultry spring afternoon and 21 pm.

What causes a tornado?

A tornado forms under a specific set of weather conditions in which three very different types of air combine in a specific way. Near the land lies a layer of warm and humid air, along with strong southerly winds. Colder air and strong westerly or southwesterly winds lie in the upper atmosphere. The fluctuations in temperature and humidity between the surface and the upper levels create what we call instability. It is a necessary ingredient for the formation of a natural phenomenon. A third layer of hot dry air is installed between the warm moist air at low levels and the cool dry air. This hot layer acts as a lid and allows the warm air to become even more unstable. The complex interactions between the updraft and the surrounding winds can cause the updraft to start spinning and the natural tornado phenomenon is born.

What is the Fujita Damage Scale?

Dr. Theodore Fujita, who researched this phenomenon, developed a damage scale to provide strength ratings based on damage surveys. Because it is very difficult to make direct measurements, damage-based wind estimation is the best way to classify winds. The new improved scale eliminates some of the limitations identified by meteorologists and engineers with the introduction of the Fujita scale in 1971. The intensity range remains as before, from zero to five, with “EF0” being the weakest associated with very little damage, and “EF5” representing the complete destruction that was in Greensburg, Kansas on May 4, 2007, classified as "EF5". The EF scale was adopted on February 1, 2007.

Constant vigilance and prompt warning are critical as this natural phenomenon can strike almost anywhere at any time. Most tornadoes, violent at the start, are short-lived and often hide in rain or darkness. The best way to deal with them is to be prepared.

What was the largest tornado in the world?

The largest tornado in the world occurred on March 18, 1925 in the United States. 747 people died and 2,027 were injured in Missouri, Illinois and Indiana when several twisters emerged that day. The largest of these tornadoes, called "tri-states", took 695 lives and was classified as an F5. He moved 300 km on the ground at a speed of 100 km per hour. This continued on the ground for 7 hours and 20 minutes.

What are the strongest winds?

Using radar, meteorologists recorded that on May 3, 1999, one Twister had winds of 480 km per hour at a height of 30 meters. Scientists have found that the strongest winds usually occur at a height of about 100 meters above the ground. However, most of this natural phenomenon does not have wind speeds over 150 km per hour.

Although they can occur at any time of the day or night, most tornadoes form at the end of the day. By this time, the sun had warmed the earth and atmosphere enough to produce thunderstorms.

I wanted to study the ordinary ones in more detail. For example, where do they come from, where they are most often found, and what kind of bizarre creatures of the indomitable elements are they.

It turns out that the fiery whirlwind is one of the varieties of whirlwinds that are found on Earth. And not only on Earth! By the way, some types of vortices are also found on other planets that have an atmosphere. But more about that later.

So, whirlwinds. Terrible and deadly destroyers, sweeping away everything in their path. Those of them that are born above the ground and above the water are called tornadoes or tornadoes. Water tornadoes are slightly different from their land-based counterparts. They are inferior to them in life expectancy, size and speed. But more about them later.

Generally tornado is an atmospheric vortex that occurs in a cumulonimbus cloud. It spreads downward, almost always reaching the surface of the earth. At the same time, the size of its diameter can vary from tens of meters to several kilometers. Interestingly, the shape of a tornado can be very diverse. They even came up with a classification.

Perhaps the most common classic version of a tornado that can be found is whip-like tornado. Its funnel looks very thin and almost smooth, while it can be quite sinuous. These tornadoes are perhaps the weakest. But do not underestimate their power, because such a whirlwind will destroy everything that it meets on the way. Another notable feature is that the width of the funnel is much less than its length.

The next type of funnel is called vague. It looks like a piece of a rapidly rotating cloud, which for some reason touches the ground. The diameter of these funnels is more than 0.5 kilometers and looks very blurry. These are very powerful whirlwinds, the action of which cannot be predicted. Such vortices are often composite.

So, what is a vortex with composite funnel? It turns out that such a death is the main, most powerful whirlwind, around which two or more separate whirlwinds revolve. Although the power of such tornadoes can vary, they usually represent one of the most powerful whirlwinds. Naturally, they cause enormous damage to large areas through which they passed.

There are also fire, sand and water whirlwinds.

It is noteworthy that the tornado consists of air and is not visible by itself. We see not the air, but the garbage, water and dust that he raised.

What are the reasons for the formation of a tornado? It turns out that, despite modern technology, scientists still have not been able to answer this question. Scientists to date have only been able to characterize some of the common features that are inherent in almost all representatives of this genus.

Well, perhaps most significant, is that the existence of a tornado can be divided into three stages. The first stage, naturally, is the birth of the notorious whirlwind. During this period, a small funnel can be observed from a thundercloud. Then it gradually descends closer to the ground, sometimes increasing significantly. Cold layers of air that are under the cloud begin to fall down, displacing warmer ones. This is all quite normal, based on known physical laws. In this case, a collision of cold and warm fronts is formed, in which potential energy boldly passes into kinetic energy. Gradually, the speed increases, and, as a result, a tornado is born.

The second stage of the tornado's existence can be called its immediate life. The speed of the rotational movement of air increases with time, while in the center of the tornado, air flows rush to the top, forming an area of low pressure, which is much less than the pressure of the environment. It is for this reason that the so-called tornado heart is the most dangerous. Buildings that hit the center of the tornado explode, people's organs can not stand it, and are torn apart. At the second stage, we see a vortex, the power of which is maximum. The tornado lives, moves in the direction it needs, sweeping away everything in its path.

At the third stage, as you probably already guessed, there is a gradual extinction of the vortex. He begins to gradually break away from the ground and eventually returns to where he came from - in his thundercloud.

It is noteworthy that the existence of each stage cannot be determined in any way. This can last from several minutes to several hours, which is very rare. The maximum recorded duration of the existence of a tornado is 7 hours and 20 minutes (Mattunsky tornado, 1917).

The speed of tornadoes also varies, but usually it ranges from 40 to 60 km / h. The maximum recorded speed is 210 km/h. At the same time, it is worth mentioning that the tornado does not move alone, but together with the cloud that gave rise to it. At the same time, during its existence, it can travel a distance that reaches 60 kilometers.

As for its height, it can reach one and a half kilometers.

Air in a tornado in our hemisphere usually rotates counterclockwise.

But scientists have problems with determining the speed of rotation inside a tornado. Due to the large destructive power, practically it is very difficult to calculate it. And because of the strong destruction associated with a sharp change in pressure, it is also difficult to theoretically assume what speed he had. It is believed that it exceeds 18 m/s and can reach 1300 m/s. But the information, unfortunately, is not accurate.

By the way, in the place where the funnel comes into contact with the ground, a so-called cascade can form. It is a column of dust and debris that a tornado will lift into the air. When a tornado is formed, you can observe such an interesting picture. Towards the whirlwind descending from the sky, a cascade rises from the ground, which seems to capture the lower part of the funnel. In this case, the cascade has a well-defined height. This is due to the fact that the debris that the tornado lifted into the air, reaching a certain height, can no longer be held by the tornado and fall. The funnel can also be surrounded by a case. Together, the case, the cascade and the tornado itself very often create an erroneous idea of the width of the funnel. It appears to be much larger than it really is.

By the way, it turns out that a tornado and a tornado are the names of whirlwinds that rage in America. A tornado occurs over the sea, and a tornado over land. In Europe, they are usually called blood clots. But in the end, all three names of the terrible phenomenon are considered synonymous.

Many consider tornadoes to be one of the most violent natural disasters. And one cannot but agree with this.

It turns out that I classify tornadoes not only by the shape of the funnel, but also by power. The classification was introduced by Professor Teodoro Fujita in 1971 in the form of a scale. The scale was called the Fujita Scale or the Fujita-Pearson Scale. It is also called the F-scale. It consists of 13 categories from F0 to F12. Interestingly, theoretically, the speed of a tornado on the F12 scale can be equated to the speed of sound. The most common are tornadoes of the second and third categories. The categories above are practically non-existent.

The most massive simultaneous appearance of tornadoes of different power occurred in the United States in 1965. Then at the same time there were 37 tornadoes of different power. Naturally, the damage they caused to the six states was very significant. 3250 people were killed, and about 2.5 thousand were injured.

In Russia, tornadoes, although quite rare, still occur. For the first time they were mentioned in writing in 1406 in the Trinity Chronicle. Then the horse and its owner suffered.

A curious incident occurred in the village of Meshchery, which is located in the Gorky region. One day, grace descended on the inhabitants and it began to rain from the sky from silver coins. Unfortunately, the culprit of this grace turned out to be an ordinary tornado that lifted into the air a treasure washed by rain near the village.

You can talk about tornadoes for a very long time. Indeed, despite the mortal danger, this is a very beautiful and interesting phenomenon. I will tell you about sand and water vortices in my next articles. That's all, perhaps.