Tornado

Tornado
An F3 tornado near Anadarko, Oklahoma, 1999.
Season	Primarily spring and summer, but can be at any time of year
Effect	Wind damage

A tornado is a tube of violently spinning air that touches the ground. Wind inside the tornado spins fast, but the actual 'circle' of wind around them is huge. This makes tornadoes very dangerous.^[1] Tornadoes are especially dangerous to people in cars, trucks, buses or mobile homes and about 60 people are killed by tornadoes every year. The word "tornado" might come from the Spanish word tronada (thunderstorm), which comes from the word tronar (to thunder).^[2]

Tornadoes destroy things – they can tear houses to pieces. Cars and trucks may be thrown away and often leave people homeless. Tornadoes can be caused by winds that have been going opposite directions with humidity. They are smaller than hurricanes but stronger. Nearly three quarters of the world's tornadoes happen in the United States. However, they can happen anywhere.

Tornadoes mostly happen during strong thunderstorms called supercell storms. They cause a lot of damage to anything in their path. Tornadoes are ranked on the Enhanced Fujita scale, from EF0 to EF5. EF0 is used for tornadoes that cause the least amount of damage, and EF5 is used for tornadoes that cause the most amount of damage.^[3]

Tornadoes can happen in nearly any part of the world. In the United States, a tornado has happened in every state. The middle part of the United States is nicknamed "Tornado Alley" because of the number of tornadoes there. A tornado can have wind speeds of over 300 miles per hour (480 km/h). Most tornadoes have wind speeds less than 110 miles per hour (180 km/h), are about 250 feet (80 m) across and travel a few miles before disappearing. Other tornado-like phenomena that exist in nature include the gustnado, dust devil, fire whirls, and steam devil; downbursts are frequently confused with tornadoes, though their action is not similar.

1. ↑ "Glossary of Meteorology, 2nd ed". American Meteorological Society. 2000. Archived from the original on 2007-04-06. Retrieved 2006-11-17.
2. ↑ Harper, Douglas. "Etymology of tornado". Online Etymology Dictionary. Retrieved 2022-04-13.
3. ↑ "Fujita Tornado Damage Scale". www.spc.noaa.gov. Retrieved 2017-11-01.