By Caroline

Tornadoes

Tornadoes usually happen in the United States. The biggest area tornadoes hit is Tornado Alley. Tornado Alley includes parts of Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska, eastern Colorado and western Iowa.

Tornadoes hit Australia as well.

But most tornadoes hit the USA

Where do Tornadoes Usually Happen?

How Often do Tornadoes Occur?

This chart shows how often tornadoes happen in the US

Tornadoes mostly happen in May at 5-4 pm. That is because there are big weather changes at these times. Some changes great enough to cause Tornadoes.

Tornadoes are very dangerous but not only the tornadoes happen in these storms. Hail, rain, strong wind, lightning, and thunder accompany tornadoes. I think not only the tornado is scary but the things that come with it.

What features Happen with Tornadoes

During a tornado you may see changes in the sky usually changing to a dark green. When the tornado starts to strike you will hear a loud roar similar to a freight train. The wind speed will increase also.

What Usually Happens During A Tornado

When a tornado is really dangerous it is labeled an F5. These tornadoes are the strongest tornadoes and can do much more damage. These tornadoes can travel more than 200 miles per hour. Some super terrible tornadoes are almost as tall as they are wide.

Strong tornadoes account for about 29 percent of all tornadoes. These tornadoes create a path of destruction that is up to 1 mile wide and several miles long. They stay on the ground for an average of twenty minutes and account for almost 30 percent of tornado deaths.

Deadly Tornadoes

Measuring tornadoes is easy with the Fujita scale created by a tornado scientist T. Theodore Fujita.

F0: Light damage Winds >72 miles per hour

F1: Pretty light damage Winds 73-112 miles per hour

F2: Considerable damage Winds 113-157 miles per hour

F3: Severe damage Winds 158-206 miles per hour

F4: Devastating damage Winds 207-260 miles per hour

F5: Incredible damage Winds 261-318 miles per hour

 

How to Measure Tornadoes

After a tornado houses are wrecked, trees are knocked over or damaged and roads are damaged. The Joplin tornado was horrible, rated an F5. This deadly tornado knocked out two out of three hospitals unfortunately.

What might Happen After a Tornado

Fujita Scale The scale that measures a tornadoes strenth

Tornado family A group of tornadoes that appear from a single thunder cloud

Wall cloud A rotating cloud and often beginning of a tornado is the wall cloud

Key Terms

The width of a tornado varies from the range of 10 feet to one mile

Tornado winds can be as high as 300 mph

Tornadoes have a forward speed of about 10-25 mph

The air pressure inside a tornado is very low

-Illustrated science encyclopedia

Other Facts

Sources http://environment.nationalgeographic.com/environment/natural-disasters/tornado-profile/

http://www.oar.noaa.gov/spotlite/archive/spot_climatology.html

http://www.reliaweather.com/articles/april_tornadoes.html

http://ic.galegroup.com/ic/scic/ReferenceDetailsPage/ReferenceDetailsWindow?displayGroupName=Reference&disableHighlighting=false&prodId=SCIC&action=e&windowstate=normal&catId=&documentId=GALE|CX3044900028&mode=view