Question

• List all of the states that make up "Tornado Alley". What percentage of all tornadoes occur here? Why?

• List all of the states that make up "Dixie Alley". Why is this region prone to tornadoes?

• Which two months produce the most tornadoes?

• Describe what a "multi-vortex tornado" is.

• Describe the difference between a tornado watch and a tornado warning.

• Looking at table 10.2 in your textbook, describe the six Fujita scales in terms of damage caused.

• Describe how surface winds and winds aloft aid in tornado formation. What is produced from the interaction of these two winds?

• How does an "updraft" contribute towards tornado formation? What about a down-draft?

• Briefly describe how the funnel cloud develops.

Answer 1

Ans. 1

I am showing the states covered under it with the help of the following map -

N Dakota TORNADO ALLEY Minnesota COVERING STATES llinois lowa S Dakota Colorado Nebraska Kansas Missouri Okhlahoma Texas

It was actually firstly used for some research work and later it was used in wider manner. It is the region that experiences frequent tornadoes due to some weather related reasons. Even the geographical area is also not fixed. sometimes many other states are also included in this category.

There occur about 25% of all the tornadoes.

Ans 2.

A tornado needs development of moist warm and a dry cool airmass. and it is developed in Gulf of Mexico and the pressure difference is very high during winters that cause such deadly tornado. We consider a region more deadly to a disaster when the number of people dying is very large because of it. Similarly Dixie comes in a region which has very high population and is accompanied with more rain due to easy access to water from the Gulf of Mexico. For strong tornado, there needs abundant moisture so that air gets saturated and it does happen so here.

DIXIE ALLEY COVERING AREAS North and South Carolina Tennessee Missouri Georgia Arkansas Mississippi Louisiana bama East Тех

Ans 3.

Tornadoes in US mostly occur in winter months. The months of march and april are more important but November is also a period of high tornadoes.

Ans 4.

As the name tells, it is a tornado with many vortices along with a main vortex. most of the times, all the vortices are not clearly seen and mostly seen when it is newly formed. It does happen so when the tornado comes in contact with the surface.

Ans 5.

When we talk about tornado watch, it means what conditions may cause a tornado while when we talk about warning, we mean that we have smelt a tornado in a radar and it is obviously going to come. the difference is same as that is between precautions and the actions taken after the thing is done.

Ans 6.

We can divide fujita scale in terms of destruction done as following -

F0 - when the speed is 40 to 72 mph and the damages done are very little

F1 - when wind speed is 73 to 112 mph and damages done are moderate

F2 - when wind speed is 113 to 157 mph and the damages done is considerable

F3 - speed is 158 to 206 mph and the damages done are severe

F4 - speed is 207 to 260 and damages done is much more severe

F5 - speed is 261 to 318 mph and damage is very huge

Ans 7.

All we need for the formation of tornado is a warm moist airmass and a cool dry airmass. After they meet, there occurs instability in the air and the wind direction gets changed and the wind speed also increases due to difference in pressure. The air starts moving in swirling manner.

Warm moist air rises up It meets cold dry air and vortex is formed Air descends Vortex comes in contact More air rises up because the Tornado starts spinning with the ground down coming air takes its place www.cac

Ans 8.

Updraft and downdraft is nothing but just a wind parcel that is moving upwards and downwards respectively which may occur due to various reasons. A simple reason behind it is that warm air is lighter and thus rises up while cool air is denser and thus comes down.

In case of a tornado, when wind rises up, it gets cooled after coming in contact with cold air and when it comes down, the speed of the wind suddenly increases due to greater difference of air pressure. All this cause instability that helps in the formation of a tornado.

Ans 9.

In simple words, when a strong tornado is formed in case if funnel shaped cloud touches the surface. It is a cloud that has condensed water droplets in it that are spinning with great speed and has a vortex. It is formed when the moisture in air is high and the wind starts spinning as the warm air rises up and the cold air comes down with greater speed.

I hope the answer is clear to you now, if you have any query please leave a comment, I will try my best to fix it for you. goodluck