A tornado is a violent, rotating column of air which is in contact with both the surface of the earth and a cumulonimbus cloud or, in rare cases, the base of a cumulus cloud. The most intense of all atmospheric phenomena, 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 between 40 mph (64 km/h) and 110 mph (177 km/h), are approximately 250 feet (75 m) across, and travel a few miles (several kilometers) before dissipating. The most extreme can attain wind speeds of more than 300 mph (480 km/h), stretch more than a mile (1.6 km) across, and stay on the ground for dozens of miles (more than 100 km).
Various types of tornadoes include the landspout, multiple vortex tornado, and waterspout. Waterspouts have similar characteristics to tornadoes, characterized by a spiraling funnel-shaped wind current that form over bodies of water, connecting to large cumulus and thunderstorm clouds. Waterspouts 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 which 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, 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.
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.
A tornado outbreak sequence (or extended tornado outbreak) is a period of continuous or near continuous high tornado activity consisting of a series of tornado outbreaks over multiple days where there are very little or no days with a lack of tornado outbreaks. Major tornado outbreak sequences occurred in the United States in May 1917, 1930, 1949, and 2003. Another exceptional outbreak sequence apparently occurred during mid to late May 1896. Tornado outbreak sequences tend to dominate the tornado statistics for a year and often cause a spike in tornado numbers for the entire year. Read more ...
Tornado Alley is a colloquial and popular media term that most often refers to the area of the United States where tornadoes are most frequent. Although an official location is not defined, the area between the Rocky Mountains and Appalachian Mountains is usually associated with it.
Although the official boundaries of Tornado Alley are not clearly defined, the main alley extends from northern Texas, through Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa, South Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Missouri, Arkansas, North Dakota, Montana, and Ohio. Research suggests that the main alley may be shifting eastward away from the Great Plains, and that tornadoes are also becoming more frequent in the northern parts of Tornado Alley where it reaches the Canadian prairies. Read more ...
May 2024 - Tornado activity across the US is increasing exponentially spiraling everything out of existence in their wake. Over the past month there have been close to 400 reported tornadoes - twice the national average for this time of the year.
Massive tornadoes strike Iowa, including Greenfield and Carbon, causing major damage and casualties Watchers - May 22, 2024
Weather.com - Multiple People Dead After Tornadoes Rip Through Iowa A dangerous, multi-day outbreak of severe weather is battering parts of the Midwest and will continue over the next few days. This includes the threat of tornadoes, damaging hail and powerful straight-line winds.
Tornado outbreak of May 6-10, 2024
Lightning can also occur during dust storms, forest fires, tornadoes, volcanic eruptions, and even in the cold of winter, where the lightning is known as thundersnow.
Tornado Family
A tornado family is a series of tornadoes spawned by the same supercell thunderstorm. These families form a line of successive or parallel tornado paths and can cover a short span or a vast distance. Tornado families are sometimes mistaken as a single continuous tornado, especially prior to the 1970s. Sometimes the tornado tracks can overlap and expert analysis is necessary to determine whether or not damage was created by a family or a single tornado. In some cases, such as the Hesston-Goessel, Kansas tornadoes of March 1990, different tornadoes of a tornado family merge, making discerning whether an event was continuous or not more difficult.
Lenticular clouds are stationary lens-shaped clouds that form at high altitudes, normally aligned at right-angles to the wind direction. Lenticular clouds have been mistaken for UFOs (or "visual cover" for UFOs) because these clouds have a characteristic lens appearance and smooth saucer-like shape. Many appear over volcanoes much like UFOs that have been captured on film exiting and entering volcanoes. Read more ...
Space Tornadoes
A space tornado is a solar windstorm and is exponentially larger and more powerful than conventional tornadoes on Earth. They are also thought to produce the aurora borealis phenomenon. Tornadoes on Earth are formed by the atmosphere and sometimes having precipitation, while space tornadoes are formed by magnetic fields and with plasma.
Space tornadoes are made up of plasmas, consisting of extremely hot ionized gases that rotate at extremely high speeds, some recorded at over 1,000,000 miles per hour (1,600,000 km/h). Within its funnel, they also generate strong electrical currents of about 100,000 amperes. Power transformers and other man made constructs are susceptible to damage from space tornadoes. Read more
much like consciousness moving into physical reality.
Time and consciousness move in spirals above -> below -> return at end of cycle
Consciousness moves in cycles.
Every time it recycles - it reduces itself until it disappears.
