How Is Something Happen? Tornado

Tornado, It’s Dangers

Tornado occur when the conditions that cause thunderstorms are unusually violent. Winds blow in opposite directions around a strong updraft start a narrow, violent whirl. Centrifugal force effectively throws the air away from the center, leaving a core of very low pressure. This is much like stirring water in a cup, thus forming a vortex like dip in the surface.

            This low pressure core acts as a partial vacuum, sometimes helping to lift the roofs of houses. Most of the damage, though, result from the force of wind itself. Around the edges or the whirl, wind speeds may reach 300 miles (480 kilometers) per hour.

At first, the tornado’s funnel is whitish-gray because it’s composed of minute water droplets formed as the air in the funnel expands and cools. After touching down, the funnel becomes dark because of all of the debris it has picked up. This debris can include soil, tree limbs, and parts of building, angin puting-beliung have been known to pick up automobiles, horses and whole trees.

            A angin puting-beliung usually moves toward the east (or often northeast in the Northern Hemisphere and Southeast  Hemisphere) at 25 to 40 miles (40 to 65 kilometers) per hour. Fortunately, most tornadoes are less than half a mile (800 meters) wide; the edge of one may destroy all of the houses on one side of a street while leaving those on the other side completely undamaged.

            Deaths from tornadoes in the United States averages roughly 100 per year over the last century. However, they have dropped somewhat in recent decades as better forecasting and warning system have been implemented.