Tornadoes are one of the most severe weather conditions that can occur on Earth. They are massive spinning columns of wind currents that can reach deadly speeds. However, behind the dangers of these beasts lie some truths that may intrigue anyone seeking them out.
Today, we will be diving into 10 scary facts about tornadoes. So, relax and have your learning hats on let’s begin.
- The United States Suffers the Most
- Texas Has the Most Tornadoes, but Alabama Suffers the Most Casualties
- Scientists Don't Know the Full Picture
- They Have Varying Lifespans
- Hurricanes Can Create Tornadoes
- Insane Fire Tornadoes
- The Man Who Flew in A Tornado and Lived
- They Can Have Different Shapes
- The Deadliest in Human History
- The Most Tornadoes in A Single Day
- Conclusion
The United States Suffers the Most
On the list of countries that face severe twister altercations, the United States tops the list; this can make anyone wonder why the US is the only country with more than 1,200 yearly.
The answer is its unique geography.
For a twister to form, warm, moist air from the ground must meet cold, dry air in the sky at about 10,000 to 30,000 feet; this, combined with horizontal winds, leads to swirling air currents that move at violent speeds.
The United States is the perfect ground for these conditions, as it has warm, moist air from the Gulf of Mexico and cold, dry air from the Rocky Mountains. Hence the large number of twisters.
Texas Has the Most Tornadoes, but Alabama Suffers the Most Casualties
Sounds weird, right? One would think the region that suffers from the highest number of tornadoes would be the one to face the most fatalities, but surprisingly, it’s not.
Alabama was ranked the highest state with casualties from tornado incidents, even though it has significantly fewer occurrences than Texas. Why? One might ask. Well, the culprit is trees. Because there are more trees in Alabama, a twister can be severely more dangerous, as fast winds can turn tree trunks into deadly projectiles.
Also, trees can limit visibility and make it impossible for people to know the severity of the wind trap heading towards them. Another crucial factor causing more fatalities during incidents is the presence of more low-income residents.
People who face more socio-economic issues are not well-equipped to escape or learn about tornadoes; this makes them more susceptible to disaster.
Scientists Don’t Know the Full Picture
You must have tuned into a tornado watch or learned about a warning in your region, but for all the damage these wind spirals cause, scientists don’t fully understand how they form.
Yes, meteorologists can look for signs of warm and cold currents that could lead to them forming, but they don’t completely understand what’s occurring behind the scenes.
More research is underway to understand the workings of a tornado. Still, until science can figure out everything, it’s best to ensure you have a watch in place if you are in a region prone to twisters.
They Have Varying Lifespans
Though we learn about raging and violent wind swirls that destroy billions of dollars worth of property, most of these spinning wind circles don’t last long.
Most twisters are weak and last only 2 to 3 minutes on the ground. The violent ones can go longer, lasting for about 8 minutes, while the very violent ones can last for up to 25 minutes.
Super tornadoes take things to a whole new level, as they can continue spinning for three hours, destroying everything in their path.
Hurricanes Can Create Tornadoes
If you read our hurricanes article, you should know how deadly they can be as they are among the worst weather disasters on Earth. However, hurricanes can take things a notch and create lethal tornadoes.
Whenever a hurricane occurs, it creates the perfect breeding ground for a twister; this is because hurricanes form unstable spinning air currents. Whenever these air currents, divided into warm and cold fronts, meet, they form twisters.
Hurricanes and tornadoes go hand in hand so well that there has rarely been a prominent hurricane that didn’t spawn one or even multiple deadly twisters.
Insane Fire Tornadoes
When you think twisters can’t be any deadlier, they raise their ugly head and transform into completely unfathomable monsters.
Fire tornadoes or pyrotornadoes were the stuff of legend for decades. People thought they could only exist in fiction, but their perceptions changed with the advancements in meteorological data analysis.
A fire tornado is a twister formed by extreme heat and turbulent winds. When a severe fire heats the environment, it creates warm air that rises to the top; this ascension leads to cooler air rushing through the edges of the fire, creating an updraft; this eventually gains momentum and develops into a twister that forms a distinct weather system.
Though a pyrotornado is extremely rare, it can cause terrible damage if not properly handled. The most prominent incident is the 2003 Canberra fire tornado, which gained notoriety by entering the Guinness World Records.
The Man Who Flew in A Tornado and Lived
Many may wonder if it’s possible to survive the middle of a twister. Well, how about flying inside one?
Matt Suter was a 19-year-old swept away by a deadly EF-2 tornado. The twister dumped him about 398 meters (1307 feet) from his grandma’s house.
Matt survived the horrifying ordeal and entered the Guinness World Record for the longest distance anyone has been thrown by a tornado and survived.
They Can Have Different Shapes
Pop culture has made many think that tornadoes are spinning funnels of wind. However, these twisters can have many shapes and even transform throughout their lifespan.
There are about 5 popular tornado shapes: rope, wedge, multi-vortex, stovepipe, and cone.
The Deadliest in Human History
When one asks what country would have the worst twister in history, most people would immediately assume it’s the United States because it’s ground zero for tornadoes.
However, the deadliest twister ever recorded occurred in Bangladesh.
On April 26, 1989, a deadly tornado struck the Manikganj District of Bangladesh. By the time the winds had subsided, about 1,300 people were dead.
What’s even worse about the disaster is that the region faced over six months of drought earlier.
The casualty count from the twister was shrouded in mystery, and estimates had to be done by the World Meteorological Organization.
The Most Tornadoes in A Single Day
There’s no way the United States is not sitting on top of most tornadoes in a day list. The 2011 super outbreak was one of the worst in US history.
From April 25 to 28, about 360 twisters formed in many states across the US; this resulted in the deaths of more than 320 people and the injury of about 3,100 people.
April 25 to 28 is three days, so the most twisters in a day title belongs to the 1974 super outbreak.
From April 3 to 4, 1974, about 148 tornadoes wreaked havoc in 13 US states and Canada. The damage totaled over 840 million dollars (5.2 billion adjusted for inflation).
Conclusion
We hope you have learned something exciting about how scary tornadoes form and cause destruction. Tell us what you think in the comments. You can also check articles like 5 Horror Stories To Tell In The Dark.
