tornaado

Tornado is a violently rotating column of air that is in contact with both the surface of the Earth and a cumulonimbus cloud or, in rare cases, the base of a cumulus cloud. Tornadoes are often referred to as twisters or cyclones, although the word cyclone is used in meteorology in a wider sense to name any closed low-level atmospheric circulation.

The vast majority of tornadoes occur in the United States, particularly in a region called Tornado Alley. Tornadoes can occur during any season, but are most common in the spring and early summer. They form when warm, moist air from the Gulf of Mexico collides with cool, dry air from Canada, creating an unstable atmosphere. This instability can lead to the formation of thunderstorms, and under the right conditions, these thunderstorms can spawn tornadoes.

Tornadoes vary greatly in size and intensity. The most violent tornadoes can have wind speeds exceeding 300 miles per hour, causing widespread destruction. The Fujita scale (F-scale) and the Enhanced Fujita scale (EF-scale) are used to rate tornado intensity based on the damage they cause.

The path of a tornado is typically narrow, ranging from a few yards to over a mile wide. The duration of a tornado can range from a few seconds to over an hour. While tornadoes are most common in the Great Plains of the United States, they can occur in many other parts of the world, including Australia, Europe, and Asia.