Do you know why Tornadoes occur? well, here s why!
Tene Joshua.v
SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT
Tornadoes:A Force Of Nature
A tornado is a violently rotating column of air that is in contact with both the surface of the Earth and a cumulonimbus cloud or, in rare cases, the base of a cumulus cloud. It is often referred to as a twister or whirlwind . Tornadoes occur in all shape and sizes and has the capability of forming on any continent other than Antarctica. Various types of tornadoes include the multiple vortex tornado, landsprout, and watersprout. Waterspouts are characterized by a spiraling funnel-shaped wind current, connecting to a large cumulus or cumulonimbus cloud.Tornadoes are usually born from thunderstorms. High intensity tornadoes form from supercell thunderstorms, a storm that has a “deep rotating mesocyclone.” Supercell thunderstorms are usually when you’ll hear a tornado warning. A regular thunderstorm will hit before a supercell and for this to occur, a specific set of 'ingredients' need to come together.
The beginning of a thunderstorm looks like this: humid air, which rises, collides with cold air in the atmosphere above it. This creates wind shears, rolling columns of wind that spin above the space where the hot and cold air meet. The warmer air creates an updraft that takes one of the horizontal wind shears and moves it into a vertical position.
The peak of the updraft has two spinning columns on either side of it—the larger of the two columns overtakes the smaller one and becomes the thunderstorm. From here, the storm is able to expand due to the warm air being sucked into the spinning column.
When winds increase in speed and strength and create an updraft, a regular storm becomes a supercell. While the supercell churns in the sky, the chances of it becoming a tornado are slim—only 30 percent of these storms produce a tornadoes.
(Image credits: 99wfmk.com)
Tornadoes are quite dangerous and deadly and can devestate anything in its way . It doesn't last for long though . Soon the winds get slower and the tornado dies leaving behind a devestated region with trees uproted and house vanished . But in India we dont get Tornadoes because India is roughly 1/3 the size of the US and our climate is very tropical! We don’t have air “clashes” , that is the hot air from the equator & cold air from the poles! So, the occurrence of a tornado is very rare!
