If a strong wind blows through the clouds, it twists the rising air currents into a whirlwind. A tornado is a rapidly spinning tube of air that touches both the ground and a cloud above.. Tornadoes are sometimes called twisters. A tornado is a type of storm in which powerful rotating winds form a column, which reaches from a cloud down toward the ground. A tornado that forms over warm water is called a waterspout. Take shelter, gang – because here at National Geographic Kids, we’re entering the eye of the storm with ten tornado facts!. Most tornadoes will not last for more than 10 minutes.

Tornadoes occur most frequently during the middle and late afternoon. © 1981-2017 The Computer Language Company Inc. All rights reserved. Most tornadoes in the United States occur in the Great Plains. Tornadoes typically take the form of a twisting, funnel-shaped cloud extending downward from storm clouds, often reaching the ground, and dissolving into thin, ropelike clouds as the tornado dissipates.

This whirlwind spins faster and faster until it forms a tornado. Although tornadoes generally last less than an hour, they can cause lots of damage. Grade 8 (13-14 year old children)Based on Flesch–Kincaid readability scores, Filed under: 5ws and hTags: #storms, #clouds, #atmosphere, #tornado. You may also be interested in these:Robbing the Rich for RainThe Dark Kingdom of UranusThe Red FlowerTrees are afraid of storms and not the grass on the ground.Why Do Stars Twinkle?

Yes, I'd like to receive Word of the Day emails from YourDictionary.com. A tornado's path can range from just 100 yards, to one mile wide, or to a path of up to 15 miles wide.

is Tornado? - Geography for Kids | Mocomi, https://mocomi.com/embed/content.php?c=18400|What is a Tornado?|https://mocomi.com/what-is-tornado/. 7 minutesReadability: A wall cloud will form, a low mass of clouds which rotates.

By continuing, you agree to our A violently rotating column of air extending from a cumulonimbus cloud to the Earth, ranging in width from a few meters to more than a kilometer and whirling at speeds between 64 km (40 mi) and 509 km (316 mi) per hour or higher with comparable updrafts in the center of the vortex. The Fujita Scale is a common way of measuring the strength of tornadoes. 5Ws & H For Kids

/ Terms of Use However opening of windows only allows damaging winds to enter the structure. The wind generated by a tornado is the most powerful on the Earth, damaging almost everything that comes in its path. Tornadoes are fierce rotating columns of air, that is in contact with both the surface of the earth and a cloud.
No place is safe. Tornadoes can be over a mile-wide or really skinny. The 'o' and 'r' were reversed in English (metathesis) under influence of Spanish tornar (to twist, to turn), from Latin tornare (to turn). Tornadoes take many shapes and sizes. a violently whirling column of air, with wind speeds of about 100 to 300 miles per hour, extending downward from a cumulonimbus cloud, esp.

The worst series of tornadoes in history was on March 18, 1925. The average forward speed of a tornado is 30 to 40 mph but can go as fast as 70mph and has rotational speed that can be more than 300mph. Tornado sirens may sound in your area. Weather Wiz Kids is a fun and safe website for kids about all the weather info they need to know. It implies a severe thunderstorm warning, as any thunderstorm capable of producing a tornado will be severe.

This is why many buildings which have come in way of a tornado, are known to have exploded. Tornadoes are typically associated with a funnel cloud pendant from a storm's wall cloud, often extending to the bottom of the tornado.

Weak tornadoes form 69% of all tornadoes and cause less than 5% of tornado deaths. Softball size hail and damaging winds also occur with this storm. People Terms of Use, Based on Flesch–Kincaid readability scores. Not all tornadoes are visible but their high wind speeds and rapid rotation often form a visible funnel of condensed water..

Usually, there will also be a threat for large hail and high winds.
A violently rotating column of air extending from a cumulonimbus cloud to the ground, ranging in width from a few meters to more than a kilometer, with destructive winds up to 510 kilometers (316 miles) per hour or higher. When a building comes in way of a tornado, the air pressure inside the building exceeds the air pressure outside. When warm air rises, the atmosphere is considered unstable. When the air is cooler than the surrounding air, it will sink and the atmosphere is said to be stable. It contains tools for weather education, including weather games, activities, experiments, photos, a glossary and educational teaching materials for the classroom. Do not take shelter under an overpass. in Australia and the central U.S.: usually appearing as a rapidly rotating, slender, funnel-shaped cloud and typically causing great destruction along its narrow path, in W Africa and the adjacent Atlantic, a severe thundersquall.

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Tornadoes can occur in series (one after another) and more than one can form from the same cloud system. The lifetime is 1 to 10 minutes and wind speed is less than 110mph. Tornado definition is - a violent destructive whirling wind accompanied by a funnel-shaped cloud that progresses in a narrow path over the land. THE AMERICAN HERITAGE® DICTIONARY OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE, FIFTH EDITION by the Editors of the American Heritage Dictionaries. At ground level they usually leave a path of destruction about 50 m wide and travel an average of about 8 to 24 km. An example of a tornado is the whirlwind that carried Dorothy and her dog Toto away to Oz in the movie The Wizard of Oz. If you ever happen to see a dark often greenish sky, wall cloud, large hail and a loud roar similar to a freight train then run to a safe place as it could be a tornado.

tornado definition: The definition of tornado is a twirling, narrow funnel of wind with speeds of 100 to 300 miles per hour that can damage anything in its path. Scientists can’t rate or know how strong a tornado is until after it is over.

In these areas the plains are mostly flat and are where cold air masses from Canada and the Rocky Mountains collide with warm and moist air masses from the Gulf of Mexico. A tornado is a lethal combination of wind and power. Copyright © 2016, 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Want to be notified when our magazine is published? Usually in the northern atmosphere (above the equator) tornadoes turn counter-clockwise (left).In the southern hemisphere, tornadoes usually turn clockwise.

The vortex may contain several smaller vortices rotating within it. How to use tornado in a sentence. If you are in a building, go to the basement or lowest floor and go to the center of an interior room, like a closet, bathroom, or hallway that is away from windows, doors, corners, and outside walls. Winds generated by a tornado usually spin at about 500 kilometers per hour. From Spanish tronada (thunderstorm), from tronar (to thunder), from Latin tonare (to thunder), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)tene- (to thunder).

Privacy Policy. Leave the windows alone instead go to a safe place. F-3 (158-205 mph) Severe damage characterized by torn walls and roof structures, destroyed small buildings, most trees uprooted.

Computer Desktop Encyclopedia THIS DEFINITION IS FOR PERSONAL USE ONLY All other reproduction is strictly prohibited without permission from the publisher. In 1925, one of the fastest and largest tornadoes killed 689 people as it traveled 354 kilometers across Missouri, Illinois and Indiana. Trees are afraid of storms and not the grass on the ground.

Tornadoes usually form in the tail end of violent thunderstorms, with weaker funnels sometimes forming in groups along a leading. A tornado is often a funnel cloud—a rotating column of air— that stretches from a storm to the ground. 707 words | Before a thunderstorm forms, there is an area in the lower atmosphere of horizontal, spinning air caused by a change in wind direction and an increase in the wind’s speed along with an increase in height. / When a watch is issued, stay alert to changing weather conditions, especially looking for dark green clouds or orange-gray skies, hail, rotating clouds or funnels, and listen for a loud roar. F-5 (261-318 mph) Incredible or violent damage characterized by lifted strong-framed houses from foundations, damaged concrete structures, airborne vehicle-size missiles and debarked trees. For more interesting Geography articles and videos, visit our Geography for Kids category. Tornadoes will typically travel in a northeast direction, depending on the winds. In fact in the late 1980’s a tornado swept through Yellowstone national park in the US leaving a path of destruction up and down a 10,000 ft mountain. Available under CC-BY-SA license. F-2 (113-157 mph) Considerable damage characterized by damaged roof structures, destroyed mobile homes, airborne debris, uprooted large trees. They are generally observed as tube-or funnel-shaped clouds. If you are outside, go to a low-lying area, like a ravine or ditch and cover your head with your hands. If you are in a trailer or car, seek shelter in a sturdy building immediately.