How A Tornado Forms

Don't we all just love spring time?  When I hear the word "spring", I usually think of flowers, bunny rabbits, Easter, newborn babies (I'm not sure why, it just seems like an ideal season for babies to be born to me), rainbows, sunshine...all that good stuff.  But, being an occupant of Tornado Alley (the middle section of the country consisting of Iowa and extending all the way down through Texas and over to Mississippi, sometimes further, even to Florida), I also think of rain, thunder, lightning, hail, wind, and tornadoes.

If you live in Tornado Alley, you know exactly what I'm talking about.  You know that damaged homes and vehicles, lost loved ones, and shattered lifestyles are often the result of the most violent tornadoes.  However, if you live anywhere other than this area, you may or may not have experienced a tornado, and therefore you might be slightly under-educated on the seriousness that comes with them.  Of course, the only way to gain respect for something like this is to experience it, either that or at least learn about it scientifically.  So I am going to give a brief explanation of what a tornado is, and how it is formed, based on my knowledge and personal experience.

Well, we all know that spring time is when the temperature starts to rise and we all gradually slip from boots and fur coats to flip flops and T-shirts. This warm air comes up through Tornado Alley from the Gulf of Mexico. Now this isn't enough by itself for a tornado to get started. No, it needs some sort of trigger. How about a cold front pushing in from the west?

This mixture of warm and cold air are just the conditions needed for storms and tornadoes to form. When the two types of air collide, there is a possiblity of storms. When the two types of air collide with the jet stream (this is basically a gap or an opening where the air has nowhere to go but up), the clouds rise up even higher and get more bulky and begin a rotating updraft, which is horizontal or slanted at an angle.  This updraft is what causes severe thunderstorms.

All of these big huge clouds are known as supercells, and it is from these that tornadoes are the most likely to form.  The rotating updraft I mentioned can shift vertical, meaning it will go up and down and continue rotating, which causes rotation in the supercell.  If the rotation becomes strong enough and quick enough, a tornado will sprout from the bottom of it.  Pretty cool, huh?  But, very scary if you're in the right place at the right time.  There is no way to determine exactly how violent a tornado is until it has already happened.  Tornado violence is determined by the Fujita scale, which measures how much damage has been done, and is rated based on such.

This scale was invented by Theodore Fujita, along with the assistance of some other meteorologists, in order to determine just how big and bad a tornado was. Since there is no way to predict ahead of time the extent of what a tornado can do, the Fujita scale measures the after effect and attempts to determine the probability of damage for next year's tornado outbreak.

Since the scale was originally invented, tornadoes seem to have gotten bigger and badder. So, now it has been upraded to the Enhanced Fujita Scale. The following ratings are my approximations of a tornado's violence.

• EF0: This might blow a trash can or two across your front porch, but if you're in a sturdy structure, you really don't have much to worry about. Mostly just annoyingly loud wind and a lot of leaves to rake up the next day. You may have to go hunt down the puppy you forgot about and left outside, too.
• EF1: This can pull trees out of the ground. If you live near a lot of trees, there is a chance one could fall on your house, so be sure to get into the safest part of your home. Other than that, I don't think your house has a whole lot to worry about.
• EF2: If you're in a trailor house, MOVE. This tornado will completely destroy mobile homes, and sometimes move permanent ones clear off their foundation (without totally tearing them apart).
• EF3: This can take roofs off of houses, even sturdy ones. Unless you're in a weak structure, the liklihood of the whole house being destroyed is rather slim, but it can definitely destroy most of your house. Just make sure you tie down your puppy and get in the basement or, if you don't have one, the lowest floor and window-free part of the house.
• EF4: This will definitely tear your house to shreds. It can also destroy big portions of large public buildings like schools and courthouses. You may not be able to recognize your home, but all the pieces are still laying there.
• EF5: Tear your house to shreds? Please. This will completely flatten it and blow all of the pieces into the next town (before destroying the next town, too). Pretty impossible to find the pieces, along with the puppy you did your best to secure, and there is definitely a low chance of survival. People who get hit dead-on by one of these...well let's hope they made amends and said their prayers first.  (I'm not saying you will die from an EF5, but that's pretty much only if it doesn't hit you directly.  Some people have survived direct hits though, so don't get too scared.  But don't let your guard down either.)

Well, sometimes you can see it in the distance. Other times, you simply need to watch the Weather Channel. Their website is www.weather.com.  But if you have no access to TV or Internet, and you're in an urban city or tree-filled countryside, you can always listen for them.

If it is storming outside, pretty badly, mind you, and it just suddenly stops , run. (You've heard of the calm before the storm, right?) If the rain, thunder, lightning, and everything else completely goes silent, including wind and chirping bugs, then most likely you're about to be had by Mother Nature. If it's during the day, you can look outside to see if the sky is green. Green sky and silence are great ways to tell if a tornado is headed your way.

Within maybe a few minutes, a big, ominous, perhaps completely black cloud will appear, and this is where you may find the tornado. Not all tornado cells are black though. Some of them are brown, or even blue or gray. So beware, and make sure you know where your puppy is at all times.