TORNADO
Tornado is a dangerous violent, rotating column of air that
is in contact with both the surface of the earth and a cumulonimbus cloud or in
rare cases, cumulus cloud base. They are often referred to as a twister or
hurricane. Tornadoes come in many shapes and sizes, but usually in the form of
condensation funnel. Various types of tornadoes include landspout, multiple
vortex tornado, and waterspout.
Waterspouts characterized by spiraling
funnel-shaped wind current, connecting to a cumulus or cumulonimbus clouds are
great. They are generally classified as non-supercellular tornadoes that
develop over bodies of water. This
column spiral air frequently develop in tropical areas close to the equator,
and are less common at high latitudes. Other tornado-like phenomena that exist
in nature include gustnado, dust devil, fire whirls, and steam devil.
Tornadoes
have been observed on every continent except Antarctica. However, most of the
tornadoes in the world occur in the Tornado Alley in the United States,
although they can occur nearly anywhere in North America. They also
occasionally occur in south-central and eastern Asia, the Philippines, South east
Asia, like Malaysia, northern and east-central South America, Southern Africa,
northwestern and southeast Europe, western and southeastern Australia, and New
Zealand.
Tornadoes can be detected before or as they occur through the use of
Pulse-Doppler radar by recognizing patterns in velocity and reflectivity of
data, such as hook echoes, as well as by the efforts of storm spotters.The most
extreme tornadoes can attain wind speeds of more than 300 mph (480 km / h),
stretch more than two miles (3.2 km) across, and stay on the ground for dozens
of miles (over 100 km).
