Warning Signs that a Tornado May Develop

The formation and life cycle of tornadoes can be explained in a series of stages:

• Stage 1 – Storm development. Sunshine heats the ground which in turn heats the air near ground level.
• Stage 2 – Storm organisation.
• Stage 3 – Tornado formation.

Terms in this set (5)

• Dust-Whirl Stage. Dust swirling upwards from the ground and grows toward the funnel cloud in the sky.
• Organizing Stage. Downward extend of funnel and “connection” with dust-whirl on the ground.
• Mature Stage. Tornado on the ground.
• Shrinkage Stage.
• Decaying Stage.

• A dark, often greenish, sky.
• Wall clouds or an approaching cloud of debris.
• Large hail often in the absence of rain.
• Before a tornado strikes, the wind may die down and the air may become very still.
• A loud roar similar to a freight train may be heard.
• An approaching cloud of debris, even if a funnel is not visible.

Before a tornado hits, the wind may die down and the air may become very still. This is the calm before the storm. Tornadoes generally occur near the trailing edge of a thunderstorm and it is not uncommon to see clear, sunlit skies behind a tornado.

10 minutes

Missouri – Matt Suter was 19 years old when he had an experience that he will never forget. He survived after being swept up inside a tornado. More than a dozen tornadoes spawned from the supercell thunderstorms that day, claiming the lives of two people. But Matt was lucky.

Tornadoes are small-scale storms that produce the fastest winds on Earth. Single-vortex tornadoes (tornadoes that consist of a single column of air rotating around a center) are theorized to have a calm or nearly calm “eye,” an area of relatively low wind speed near the center of the vortex.

Unlike most natural disasters, being caught in the middle of a tornado is actually survivable. There have been multiple reports from people who were caught inside the eye of a tornado and have walked away without any injuries.

updraft

1999 Bridge Creek–Moore tornado

DO NOT TRY TO OUTRUN A TORNADO IN YOUR CAR. Tornado winds can blow large objects, including cars, hundreds of feet away. Tornadoes can change direction quickly and can lift up a car or truck and toss it through the air. Never try to out-drive a tornado.

EF2. If anyone is wondering, I think the “official” smallest tornado per Guinness Book of World Records is 7 feet wide.