Adam Bennett
1st 4/23/13
Tornadoes can be very dangerous. The United States is the #1 tornado country in the world. At an average 800 tornadoes a year that is the result of 80 deaths and 1500 injuries. Tornadoes can have damage pathways of one mile wide and 50 miles long. This is because the United States doesn’t have many mountain ranges to block the dry air coming from Canada and the cool moisture coming from the Gulf of Mexico.
Tornadoes are caused by thunderstorms that have warm moist air and have eastward moving cold fronts. Tornadoes that occur in the winter and early spring are usually because of strong frontal systems. A tornado usually looks like a funnel shaped cloud. Sometimes if a tornado is especially big though it will not have the funnel shaped cloud but just look likes a big moving cloud. A tornado spins in a counter-clockwise motion, and usually travels a path of nine miles in length and ten yards in width at an average of 35-45 mph. Tornadoes can get up to speeds of 500 miles per hour, and wind speeds up to 250 mph. A tornado goes from the base of a thundercloud down and can either be black or gray.
They have very high wind speeds and are rapid moving. Even though the very high wind speeds are dangerous, they are not the leading causes of death in tornado cases. They contribute to it though; the leading cause of death is people being struck with flying debris. Tornadoes can pick up trees, refrigerators, animals, automobiles, and even in one case an 88-ton train coach. Most people die due to head injuries where they have been struck with a rock or something of this sort. There are all types of different variations of tornadoes. Some tornadoes may even be clear until it picks up types of debris. Waterspout tornadoes are most common along the gulf. They are weak tornadoes that form along water. These tornadoes tend to move inward towards land and causing death and damage. Tornadoes have caused a lot of damage and killed many lives
In 2011,...