Tornadoes: Spinning and Spinning Around!
Wind is created when masses of air move from one place to another. Clouds are created when warm and cold air meet and form billions of water droplets.
When certain conditions are just right, wild winds known as tornadoes or "twisters" can spell destruction for whatever lies in their paths. These winds are the strongest on earth. They are violent and hard to predict. Some tornadoes can move over the ground at speeds of up to 60 miles (100 km) per hour. That's as fast as cars on highways!The tornado sucks as it speeds. The "funnel" cloud of the tornado causes the destruction. It gobbles up everything in its path. Inside the funnel winds have been measured at speeds of more than 186 miles (300 km) per hour. A tornado only lasts about 30 minutes, but they are incredibly strong.
| FUN FACT: Have you heard of Tornado Alley? It is a stretch of land that covers Kansas, Oklahoma and Missouri. More than 700 tornadoes occur there each year! That's nearly two per day! |
Related Book and Website
If you'd like to learn more about tornadoes, take a spin with this book and website:
Book:
Morgan, Sally.Weather, (San Francisco, Sydney: Time Life Books/US Weldon Owen Inc.,1996).
Website:
Twist into ThinkQuest's Weather Gone Wild site at:
http://tqjunior.advanced.org/5818/