What is a Tornado: Definition, Formation, Types, Key Characteristics and Safety Tips

A tornado is among nature’s most fatal catastrophes that brings massive destruction and loss of life. It can produce wind travelling at a speed of up to 500 kilometers per hour that can tear down entire towns within minutes. Such high speed wind damages everything coming in its way: tossing cars, uprooting trees and flattening houses. Let’s learn how the calm air turns into such high speed rotating winds that can tear apart everything coming in its way along with some safety tips and precautions to follow during tornadoes. 

Table of Contents 

• What is a Tornado
• What Causes a Tornado
• Types of Tornadoes
• Safety Measures

What is a Tornado

A tornado is a strom formed by a thundercloud that reaches the earth surface. This rapidly rotating column of air that reaches from storm clouds to the earth’s surface is highly destructive and poses a huge threat to life and property. A tornado is visible due to water droplets in the cloud and can take the shape of a cone, pillar or tube rotating at a very high speed. It usually lasts for a maximum of 15 minutes, destroying everything along its path from building to trees. The intensity of a tornado depends on its speed and the type of destruction it can cause. It is measured on EF scale(Enhanced Fujita) with intensity 1 to 5; where EF5 is high intensity tornadoes with wind speed more than 320 kilometers per hour bringing down well-framed houses.

Intensity	EF1	EF2	EF3	EF4	EF5
Speed of wind	138–177 Km/h	78–217 Km/h	218–266 Km/h	267 to 322 Km/h	>320 Km/h

What Causes a Tornado 

A tornado is formed from a thunderstorm called a supercell. When cold dry air flowing in one direction meets warm moist air coming from another direction they create atmospheric instability. As the cold air is dense it settles under warm air sinking and pushing the hot air to rotate into a spiral motion. This pattern formed by cold and warm air in the atmosphere is called updraft. Strong updrafts of warm air start to lift this rotating wind upward. 

Once the spinning wind takes a vertical position, they form a mesocyclone. This cyclone is a swirling giant that is several kilometers wide and stretches high in the atmosphere. When the base of this giant swirling cloud touches the earth’s surface it creates a funnel cloud that picks up dust, debris and dirt. Once it touches down it picks up speed up to 480 km per hour that can cause high destruction. Some tornadoes are not as strong as others and can last up to a few minutes. Let’s learn about different types of tornadoes and their characteristics.

Types of Tornado

Supercell Tornado: It is the most common and intense tornado formed by a single-cell thunderstorm known as singlecells. It can last longer and is a high speed tornado that falls into EF 4 and EF5 category tornadoes capable of creating mass destruction.

Waterspout Tornado: These tornadoes are formed over water bodies and pose a huge threat to marine vessels.

Landspout Tornado: Weaker and short-lived tornadoes that are not associated with the mesocyclone are classified as landspout tornadoes. Even though they are short-lived, they are capable of bringing huge damage due to high speed winds.

Gustnado: These tornadoes are concealed with thick rain or hail and are highly damaging and dangerous.

5 Safety Tips to Survive a Tornado 

• Take shelter in sturdy buildings with rooms without windows or in the basement.
• Stay away from doors and windows.
• Avoid taking shelter under trees or cars as they can get blown away with the strong wind.
• If you can’t find shelter consider lying on the ground face-down protecting the back of your head with arms.
• If boating or swimming, get to the land and seek shelter immediately.