Tornadoes as the Natures Most Hazardous and Violent Storms - Research Paper Example

Tornadoes as the nature’s most hazardous and violent storms Introduction Tornadoes are the nature’s most hazardous and violent storms. Tornadoes are believed to be the offspring of very powerful thunderstorms. They are the calamities that can devastate entire neighborhoods and towns in seconds. Tornadoes are prevalent in many regions of the world but these forces of devastation are found most commonly in the United States of America. Every year, almost eight hundred tornadoes are recorded in United States mostly on the eastern side of Rocky Mountains during summer and spring months. These tornadoes cause around eighty deaths and approximately over one thousand and five hundred injuries each year. A tornado is formed by a funnel-shaped, rotating cloud that is born from a thunderstorm in a violent manner and hits the ground with revolving winds that can go up to at most 300 miles per hour. The most aggressive tornadoes have the power of immense devastation carrying the wind speeds of at least 250mph and more. Tornadoes can harm an area of fifty miles long and one mile wide in one stoke. One of the tornadoes began forming in Broken Bow in Oklahoma and carried the motel sign as far away as thirty miles and finally landed in Arkansas. Each state of United States of America is at a risk of getting tornadoes. Some tornadoes are lucidly visible while others are obscured by low-hanging clouds or rain. Most of the time, tornadoes expand so vigorously that little or no advance warning is probable. When a tornado hits a certain area, the air becomes still there and wind dies down. A cloud comprises of wreckage tells where the tornado is even if cone is not lucid. At the sprawling edge of a thunderstorm, tornadoes occur. Behind every tornado, it is common to see clear, sunlit skies. (Allaby, 1997) Thunderstorms build up in moist, warm air and move towards East towards the colder regions. These tornadoes sometimes cause strong winds, frozen rain, and tornadoes. The early spring and winter tornadoes are mostly linked with frontal, strong systems that grow up in the Central States and go towards East. Infrequently, massive outbreaks of these tornadoes take place with the similar kind of weather pattern. Many states may be a victim of these frequent thunderstorms as well as tornadoes. Thunderstorms are mostly generated along a “dryline” in the Central plains during the spring season which divides the moist, warm air towards the East from dry, hot air towards the West. As the dryline goes towards East, it forms tornado-generating thunderstorms during afternoon time. In Texas panhandle, the Front Range of Rocky Mountains, and also in Southern High Plains do the thunderstorms regularly develop as the air adjacent to the ground flows “upslope” towards a much higher terrain and if other conditions are favorable, tornadoes are produced by these thunderstorms. These tornadoes irregularly escort the hurricanes and tropical storms that disperse across the land. Tornadoes usually are common towards the right and go beyond the path of the gale as it comes on land from sea. (Simon, 1999) Tornado comes in various variations. Most tornadoes build up near the beginning of increasingly building tornadoes. This tornado is mostly prevalent in the front range of Rocky Mountains, the Western States, and the Plains. Tornadoes are clear until wreckage and dust is picked up by them. Sometimes, two or more tornadoes might occur simultaneously. In the warm waters in the seas, waterspouts are feeble tornadoes. These tornadoes are commonly occurring in the regions of southeastern states and Gulf Coast. These tornadoes of winter storms build up unexpectedly in the late fall cold in western America. These waterspouts frequently go inwards and cause injuries and damages which form tornadoes. (Allaby, 1997) Formation of Tornadoes Just before a thunderstorm build up, a wind direction modification with augmenting height makes an imperceptible, horizontal rotating effect in lower atmosphere. This increasing air pressure within thunderstorm updraft the slopes the spinning air from horizontal region to the vertical region. The area of rotation is about two to six miles wide, which grows through most of the storm. Most violent and sturdy tornadoes form strong revolution in this area. The area of rotation is also called rotating wall cloud. Rain does not take place in this area commonly. After some time, a very strong tornado develops in this area. Destructive straight-line winds and softball- size hailstones are also part of this storm. (Simon, 1999) Tornadoes are of various shapes and sizes. There are violent, strong, and weak tornadoes. Only two percent of all tornadoes are violent tornadoes but they are a cause of almost seventy percent of all demises borne by tornadoes. The time period of violent tornadoes can go beyond one hour and the speed of wind exceeds 205mph. Twenty nine percent of all tornadoes are strong tornadoes which cause around thirty percent of all tornado demise. Strong tornadoes have an average time span of twenty minutes or a little longer. The speed of wind of Strong tornadoes is between 110 and 205mph. Sixty-nine percent of all tornadoes are weak tornadoes. These tornadoes account for less than five percent of tornado deaths. They have a very small lifetime of around one to ten minutes or a little longer. The speed of winds is only 110mph. (Allaby, 1997) There are certain myths associated with tornadoes but then there are realities to it. One of the myths is that areas located near lakes, mountains, and rivers do not face the trauma of tornadoes but it isn’t true. The fact is that no topography of the world is protected from tornadoes. In late 1980s, a devastative tornado brushed across the Yellowstone National Park leaving just a lot of debris and destroying a 10,000 ft. mountain. Another myth is that buildings explode as tornado goes through them from the top but the fact is that it is the wreckage and violent winds that slam into the buildings that create the most structural trauma. A third myth is that to equalize the pressure and lessen the damage of tornadoes, windows should be kept open but it is very damaging in reality. IF you open the windows, it will permit the destroying winds to go into the structure. Just let the windows be closes, and go into an interior room, a bathroom, or a basement without any windows. (Simon, 1999) Tornadoes can occur anywhere anytime in the world. In Carolinas, a grand tornado broke down on March 28, 1984 in the afternoon-evening. Twenty two tornadoes were part of this massive tornado. Fifty seven people died and one thousand, two hundred and forty eight people got wounded. Thirty seven of the victims were kept in mobile homes. Pennsylvania-Ohio took place on May 31, 1985 in the late afternoon-evening time; forty one tornadoes out broke at the same time including the twenty seven in Pennsylvania and Ohio both. Approximately one thousand and twenty five people were wounded and fatalities cause around four hundred and fifty million dollars. The plains outbreak occurred on April twenty six and twenty seven mostly in the afternoon of twenty six and continued till early morning of twenty seventh. The outbreak comprised of fifty four tornadoes in total which caused twenty one injuries and three hundred and eight people were injured. Almost a damage of two hundred and seventy seven plus dollars occurred and there were fifteen deaths near or inside mobile homes and two demises took place in vehicles.(Allaby, 1997) The information on growing storms is provided by weather radars as meteorologists are dependent on them. The National Weather Service is tactically placing Doppler radars all over the country which can sense the movement of air away from or towards the radar. The uncovering of augmenting rotations in the beginning of a thunderstorm can permit life-saving warnings to be delivered before a tornado begins taking shape. (Simon, 1999) Doppler Radial Velocity Tornadoes can take place at any time during the year. They don’t have any fixed season or month for their outbreak. The peak tornado months for the southern states are from March to May and the peak tornado occurrence month for northern states is in the summer season. A maximum secondary tornado in some states takes place in fall. The time interval of tornadoes is between 3 pm and 9pm but can occur at any time at all hours whether its day or night. On average, a tornado moves towards northeast from southwest. But yet again, tornadoes can move in any possible direction possible. The standard forward speed of a tornado is 30mph but it may differ from almost stationary to 70mph at the highest. The entire number of tornadoes is most probably higher than it has been reported in western states. The meager population lessens the number indicated. (The American Red Cross.) On April 15, 2012, in the city of Oklahoma, dozens of tornadoes splinted across the area and killed five people only in one Oklahoma town; three of these people were young girls after the inadequacy of storm sirens, the houses were abridged to debris. These storms whirled in the Tornado Alley in the Southern and Central United States Plains on the evening of Saturday and went into Sunday. These high winds and many tornadoes struck only the rural areas, leaving most of the residential area from worse case devastation. The outcome of these storms was that thousands of houses went out of electricity in Kansas, caused damage to ninety percent of buildings and homes in a little town of Iowa, and also hit a production facility of aircraft fuselage. States of emergency were declared in Kansas and Oklahoma both. The weekend of storms did not come to an end for Midwestern side of the country. Tornado watches were declared in the areas of Arkansas through the state of Missouri and into a side of Illinois and also in some parts of Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Iowa. But the propensity for most violent tornadoes was quite low. As of accuweather.com, destroying thunderstorms were also forecasted from south of Minnesota to the state of Texas into the night of Sunday. (CBS NEWS, 2012) A twister also struck the northwestern side of Woodward city of Oklahoma on Sunday after midnight has passed by, reaching several towns of around twelve thousand people where the siren system failed due to lightening, as mentioned by Mayor Roscoe Hill. This twister took everyone by shock and it was kind of irresistible as mentioned by Roscoe Hill. The tornado of Woodward was devastating, killing two adults and three young girls as Amy Elliott (Oklahoma medical Examiner’s Office) said. A man and two girls who were between the ages of five and seven thought to be his daughters died in a park of mobile home. Furthermore, a man and a ten year old girl also died in Tangiers (a little community nearby Woodward city limits). Almost twenty nine people were brought to Woodward Regional hospital as mentioned by Chief Executive Officer Dave Wallace. Out of those twenty nine, the condition of five of them was very severe and so they were shifted to other hospitals. Alan Riffel, Woodward city manager, reported to CNN that every missing person was accounted for, except the eighty-nine houses and thirteen businesses which completely damaged. Governor Mary Fallin was astounded that there was not much loss of lives as most of the people were either sleeping or had have protected themselves due to former sequence of storms in the area. (Olafson, 2012) Governor Mary Fallin talked to many people whose homes were struck by tornadoes. In the victims there was a man who claimed that he slept inside his home with his dog on the sofa and after the tornado, he found himself in the backyard unhurt. According to National Weather Service, the tornado of April 1947 of Woodward is still the most lethal in the history of Oklahoma State. One hundred and sixteen people died in that tornado. The season of tornadoes began in the starting of this year, with sixty-two deaths caused by twisters alone in 2012 in the South and the Midwest. This raised the concerns that the year of 2012 would be a replica of 2011 in which United States experienced the most violent of all tornadoes in approximately a century. Around five hundred and fifty people were killed in tornadoes the previous year, comprising of three hundred and sixteen of the outbreak of April and five people of the states of South, as well as one hundred and sixty people died in Joplin, Missouri, in the months to follow. No demises or fatal injuries were indicated in Kansas, but almost eleven hundred people went out of electricity in their homes around Wichita area as Sharon Watson, State’s National Guard spokesman of emergency services reported. (CBS NEWS, 2012) This storm also caused damage at the McConnell Air Force Base situated in Wichita area and ruined several houses surrounding that area, as the authorities said. Brandon Redmond, storm chaser and a meteorologist, reported that his vehicle was lifted around two feet off the ground by a twister as he and his Severe Weather Alert team was travelling towards the south of Wichita into an industrial area. He told the Reuters that the tornado genuinely took over the vehicle as they saw flashes of light and wreckage fly all around the vehicle, plywood, parts of roof and metal were circulating at a high speed surrounding the vehicle. According to Tim Norton, Sedgwick County Commission Chairman, the tornado missed Wichita downtown area as well as densely populated neighborhoods and went through areas towards the south and into the east where mobile home parks and manufacturing businesses were located. Norton was relieved that the storms didn’t come their way as if it would have been the case, things would have been much more worst. The fatalities also included Spirit Aero systems facility of production that makes fuselages for the Boeing’s 7-series airplanes. A spokesman from Spirit said that the factory was closed down on Sunday after the damaged the tornado created as it took the roof off and knocked down electricity, but the company aims on running again back soon. The spokesman Ken Evans declared that most of the operational facilities and capabilities are still in function. (Olafson, 2012) The specialized institute of tornado forecasting, Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Okla. Had warned the residents of United States of a life threatening event and high end tornado approximately two days before the severe weather hit the region. The second time in the history of United States of America that a high risk warning was issued twenty four hours before the tornado hit. The first severe warning was issued in 2006 in which nearly hundred tornadoes struck the southeastern side of United States, killing many people and also destroying more than thousand homes in Tennessee. Chris Vaccaro, the spokesman of the Storm Prediction Center, reported that their weather service received approximately ninety seven reports of thunderstorms and tornadoes including by the dawn of Sunday. The report is that survey teams would be going towards the destructive areas to determine and investigate the total number of actual tornadoes, the length and width of their devastated path, and their highest winds as well. Many huge funnel clouds, tornadoes, and thunderstorms were videographed and photographed during the time of the outbreak. (CBS NEWS, 2012) Conclusion Tornadoes are the calamities of nature and thus cannot be avoided. However the damage caused by tornadoes could be prevented to certain extent. One should be informed about the storm by listening to commercial radio, NOAA Weather Radio, and also watch television for the latest tornado warnings and watches. When favorable conditions for harsh weather are there, a tornado or harsh thunderstorm watch is thus issued. Information is used by weather service personnel about spotters, weather radar, and several other sources to issue tornado and harsh thunderstorm warnings and watch for regions where harsh weather is coming up. (FEMA) Local television and radio stations receive harsh thunderstorms and tornadoes warnings and then broadcast them on NOAA Weather Radio stations which are paying homage to warned areas. The warnings are also issued via local public safety officials and emergency management who can turn on the warning systems to prepare the communities. (FEMA) If during a tornado you are inside your home, go immediately into your basement; if you are outside go to your vehicle, fasten the seat belt and drive immediately to any safe shelter nearby. You are more safe in a low place rather than an under pass or bridge. (FEMA) References CBS NEWS. Midwest tornadoes: 5 dead, 29 hurt in Okla. April 15, 2012 [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-201_162-57414275/midwest-tornadoes-5-dead-29-hurt-in-okla/ FEMA. Tornadoes. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.ready.gov/tornadoes Olafson, Steve. Three girls among Oklahoma tornado dead; clean-up underway. April 15, 2012.[ONLINE] Available at: http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/04/15/us-usa-weather-tornadoes-idUSBRE83C15K20120415 The American Red Cross. Tornadoes [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.nssl.noaa.gov/edu/safety/tornadoguide.html Allaby, Michael. Tornadoes. New York: Facts On File, 1997. Print Simon, Seymour. Tornadoes. New York: Morrow Junior Books, 1999. Print. Read More