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Tornados................Eastern Invitational
NATURAL DISASTERS
Tornadoes are one of weathers most deadly and
fascinating forces. Even though they are often
limited by size (not being more than one kilometer wide at most) they leave vast areas of
destruction and death behind them. They are also called twisters or cyclones.
Tornadoes are characterized by violent winds that swirl in a counter clockwise direction
north of
the equator and clockwise south of the equator. Most people recognize them as a towering
black
funnel extending downward from the base of a large cumulonimbus cloud. It rotates at
speeds up
to three hundred miles per hour (480 kpm) or in some rare cases, even faster. In the
center of the
tornado, the air pressure is very low in comparison to surrounding air pressure.
The speed of the wind is the primary cause of deaths and destruction of property. Many
people
are killed by flying objects and debris (missiles). The funnel shaped cloud travels in a
skip like
movement, and usually never lasts for more than a couple of minutes in any one given
place. It is
because of this skip movement that the tornado leaves some areas wrecked while others a
few
yards away almost untouched.
Certain parts of the world (ie. Australia, the Midwestern and Southern US) are more prone
to
have tornadoes. They also occur more frequently in the spring and summer months. Tornadoes
usually occur as part of a severe thunderstorm and often come in advance of cold fronts,
however, they can also occur (although less frequently) ahead of warm fronts, and even
behind
cold fronts.
The greatest killer tornado in the United States occurred during the year 1925 in Indiana,
Illinois,
and Missouri. It was the fastest and largest one ever recorded, with a destructive path
two
hundred and twenty miles long and one mile wide, and traveled at a speed of sixty miles
per hour.
It killed six hundred ninety five people and injured over two thousand.
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