What causes tornadoes to spin? The intense spinning of a tornado is partly the result of the updrafts and downdrafts in the thunderstorm caused by the unstable air interacting with the wind shear, resulting in a tilting of the wind shear to form an upright tornado vortex.
How do tornadoes transform? Most tornadoes form from thunderstorms. You need warm, moist air from the Gulf of Mexico and cool, dry air from Canada. Rising air within the updraft tilts the rotating air from horizontal to vertical.
An area of rotation, miles wide, now extends through much of the storm. Do toilets flush backwards below the equator? How long do tornadoes last? Tornadoes can last from several seconds to more than an hour. The longest-lived tornado in history is really unknown, because so many of the long-lived tornadoes reported from the early- mid s and before are believed to be tornado series instead.
Most tornadoes last less than 10 minutes. What's considered Tornado Alley? Tornado Alley is a colloquial term for the area of the United States where tornadoes are most frequent. Chicago gets that wintry feeling Friday with snow and high winds. More snow could come Sunday. All downhill from here? Most Read. Over a decade later and now fully dependent on electricity, she continues this work as an editor for IISD Reporting Services.
When not in search of misplaced commas and terser prose, Robynne writes about environment and energy. She lives in Atlanta, Georgia. Already a subscriber? Sign in. Thanks for reading Scientific American. Create your free account or Sign in to continue.
See Subscription Options. Go Paperless with Digital. Get smart. Sign up for our email newsletter. In the northern hemisphere , tornadoes occasionally rotate clockwise, or anti- cyclonically.
These tornadoes tend to be water spouts, non-supercell land tornadoes, or anti-cyclonic whirls around the rim of a supercell's mesocyclone. In some extremely rare cases, meteorologists have even documented cases of both cyclonic and anti-cyclonic tornadoes at the same time under the same thunderstorm. To understand why tornadoes usually twist in the same direction , but opposite directions in the northern vs.
The Coriolis effect can be very hard to understand, so we're going to explain it in very simple terms that are relevant to our discussion of tornadoes. In a nutshell, the Earth's rotation around its axis causes winds in the northern hemisphere to deflect to the right, while winds in the southern hemisphere deflect to the left.
This is known as the Coriolis effect , but it doesn't directly affect all air movement no matter how small. In general, the Coriolis effect only directly influences the spin direction of the Earth's biggest atmospheric and oceanographic circulation systems, such as the Gulf Stream, the jet stream , trade winds, and hurricanes. Tornadoes are too small and begin and end too quickly to be directly influenced by the Coriolis effect.
Instead, tornadoes tend to move in the same general direction of the low pressure systems that cause them. In the northern hemisphere , the low pressure systems that spawn tornadoes almost always rotate counter-clockwise because of the Coriolis effect , so that explains how a tornado 's movement is indirectly affected by the Coriolis effect.
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As in a painting? That's a question to drop into the Wonder Bank. You're right - tornadoes can spin either clockwise or counter-clockwise, and the direction in which a tornado twists depends a lot upon which hemisphere you're in.
Glad you liked this one, Pumkin! If you are still wanting to learn more about tornadoes, we encourage you to do a little more research. Have fun! Yeah, we definitely hope we don't see a tornado up close. Glad you checked out this Wonder! We're sorry this Wonder gave you nightmares, Trinity! We hope that you will try not to worry about tornadoes. Scientists are working all the time to try to find ways to predict when a tornado will occur, so that people can get to safety faster!
We're glad you enjoyed it even if it wasn't the info you were looking for, paulina! That's really scary, Mell 22! We're sorry you went through that and we're really glad to know you and your family are safe!
We're thankful that scientists are developing ways to detect tornadoes faster, so people can get to safe places. Hi, sp! You're right, it is exciting to learn about, but can be dangerous if you're following tornadoes. Hi, isabella! Sometimes we encourage our Wonder Friends to go on their own Wonder Journey! The Wonders of the Day are meant to simply spark your interest about the topic.
We're glad you liked this Wonder. What is the most interesting thing you learned. Learning about weather is so interesting!
Hello, tyler! You're right, unfortunately, tornadoes can be very deadly. It's important to always be prepared and take the right precautions. Thanks for sharing your comment with us, Dani! The winds of a tornado are very powerful and can even level buildings! Tornadoes can destroy anything that comes within their path. That's why it's best to find a safe place to hide if they're around! Thanks for sharing your learning with us here in Wonderopolis, F Pappas. You sure did learn LOTS!
You ROCK! Thanks for visiting Wonderopolis, B. We're glad that you learned some new information about tornadoes today. Thanks for visiting Wonderopolis and leaving a comment. That is great advice to have an emergency plan in place just in case a tornado occurs near you.
Thank you for being a friend of Wonderopolis! We're SO glad you stopped by Wonderopolis, A. We're impressed with all your learning today! Ocampo for sharing your learning about tornadoes with us today. Wow, G Comparone! You sure learned lots of information from this Wonder. We love it when our Wonder Friends read and learn! We wouldn't want to see a tornado up close either, A. We're so glad you took the time to share some of your learning from this Wonder with us today.
Thank you for answering the question posed in this Wonder of the Day, amontoya. Hi, kayleigh! Thanks for joining the discussion. We appreciate you sharing your opinion.
We understand that everyone might not like this Wonder. However, we encourage you to explore the many other Wonders on Wonderopolis. There are more than 1, Wonders on the site. We know you'll find one you love! Tornadoes are an amazing act of nature. We are so happy that you think Wonderopolis is amazing too. Thank you for visiting! The video was really cool, Wonder Friend Keoni.
We are so glad that you have never been in a tornado. We agree that tornadoes can be very scary, Adeline. We have a plan in place in case a tornado is near Wonderopolis. Does your family have a plan? Sometimes when you plan ahead things don't seem so scary.
Thank you for your question about tornadoes Wonder Friend!
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