Fun Fact 1: What is a tornado? A tornado can be described as a destructive windstorm of spiralling air; in most cases a tornado has a funnel shaped wind cloud that extends in a narrowing spiral towards the ground
Fun Fact 2: Tornadoes can appear in lots of different shapes and sizes. A typical tornado can measure approximately 0.5km wide, travel at a speed of up to 175 km per hour across a distance up to 20 km wide
Fun Fact 3: Tornadoes occur in most areas of the world; however they are more frequent in areas across the U.S.
Fun Fact 4: Tornadoes usually begin over land. They are caused by instability in the atmosphere; for example after a hurricane or heavy thunderstorm
Fun Fact 5: A rotating wall cloud is the area within a thunderstorm that is most likely to create a tornado. Tornadoes do not usually last for long, although more than one can occur at the same time. They are usually accompanied with severe rain, thunder and lightning
Fun Fact 6: Tornadoes are capable of remarkable destruction, they pick up wreckage and debris, which is swept and carried in its wind storm
Fun Fact 7: America has more tornadoes than any other country; they have around 1,000 tornadoes recorded each year!
Fun Fact 8: There are three main types of tornado; Multiple Vortex, Waterspout and Landspout
Fun Fact 9: A multiple-vortex tornado has two or more pillars of spinning air which rotate around a common center. A tornado over water is called a Waterspout. A Landspout is a weak tornado that occurs overland
Fun Fact 10: Tornado intensity and damage is measured by Fujita scale or the F-Scale. The Fujita scale was established in 1971 by Japanese-American severe storms researcher Tetsuya Theodore (Ted) Fujita, he worked at the University of Chicago, Illinois
Fun Fact 11: What is the difference between a tornado and a hurricane? Did you know that tornadoes and hurricanes are different types of natural disasters? However, they are sometimes mistaken to be the same event. Here we'll explain some differences when we compare a typical example of a tornado and a hurricane...
Fun Fact 12: Hurricanes develop above water; they are fuelled by evaporating water. Tornadoes form over land; they are not dependent on water for fuel
Fun Fact 13: Hurricanes can cause high waves; tsunamis, flooding and storm surges, tornadoes do not cause the same type of damage as they are generally in land
Fun Fact 14: Tornados generally create much stronger winds than a hurricane, but they do not last as long or travel as far; they are less intense
Fun Fact 15: Hurricanes create high winds and cause tremendous rains, whereas a tornado is usually created as the result of a storm - hurricanes can produce a tornado, but tornadoes cannot produce a hurricane |
