Tornadoes
By: Jacqueline, Liz, Richard, And Kyle
Basic Information
• A tornado is a damaging swirling column of air
coming down from a thunderstorm to the ground or
a severe wind storm.
• Most tornadoes strike in the midsection of the
United States and Canada. But every state in the
United States has had at least 1 tornado. More
tornadoes pass through Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas,
Missouri, Nebraska, Arkansas, Iowa, Alabama,
Florida, and Mississippi then anywhere in the entire
world.
More Basic Information
• Tornadoes start inside storm clouds called cumulonimbus,
which are made up of warm, moist air. If the updraft and the
downdraft in the storm come together and begin to spin, a
funnel shaped cloud forms inside the cumulonimbus
thunderhead and sometimes tilts into a funnel that reaches
down toward the ground. As the funnel cloud spins faster and
faster, it sucks more and more warm air and becomes larger
and louder and more powerful. If it touches the ground, a
tornado is formed.
• Tornadoes involve lighting, thunder, rain, hail, and high winds.
Safety
• If your home has a basement, go into it at
once. If your house doesn’t have a basement
go in to a bathroom or an interior closet far
from the outside walls. Crouch down low,
cover your head with your hands, and stay
away from windows and outside walls.
• Stay alert for high winds. An National Weather
Service warning indicates that a hazardous
event is occurring or is coming in about 30
minutes to an hour.
Prediction
• Meteorologists sample a wide network of
weather stations and use satellite pictures to
map out the places of the large air masses
circling the Earth. Since air masses interact in
a mostly predictable way, meteorologists are
able to predict weather patterns with some
degree of accuracy.
The most dangerous tornado ever
• The crazy tornado of March 18, 1925 injured 2,027
people and killed 689 people. This tornado moved in
a mostly straight line from Missouri to Indiana. It was
a Tri-state tornado and went through Missouri,
Illinois, and Indiana. Because it occurred a long time
before the National Weather Service issued tornado
warnings and watches, the tornado caught people by
surprise, without time to find shelter. it’s area of
destruction was 164 square miles and it cost
$17,000,000. It’s path was 219 miles, it’s speed got
as high as 73 miles, and it’s width was 1 mile.
Pictures and videos
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=94qCoL
dpRIQ&feature=player_detailpage
bibliography
• http://weatherwizkids.com
• Do Tornadoes Really Twist? By Melvin and Gilda
Berger
• Tornadoes! By Gail Gibbons
•
http://www.askkids.com/fr?q=Tornad&desturi=http%3A%2F%2Fsd71.bc.ca%2Fsd71%2Fschool%2Fcourtmid%2F_2006_student_web%2F7_2%2F2_a
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• http://www.ussartf.org/predicting_weather.htm