Lecture 7 Tornado Flashcards
what is a tornado
roatating column of ari blowing areond intese low pressure where the column is touching the ground
what are the stages
orangizational stage: wind shear, funnel cloud protrudes from above, dust and debris roatoes beneath
mature stage: most severe damage
rope stage: streches out and weakens
how are tornadoes classified
enchanced fukita scale. EF0 -EF5, based on wind speed
what is fog
cloud with its base at the earth’s surface, occurs at night when the air cools to the dew point at which water vapour will condense into droplets
what are billzards
winter stomes with specific condiations, 40 km/h winds, snow falling or blowing, visibility less then 1 km, wind chill less then -25, all conditions must last for 3 hours
what is lake effect snow
snow blets are found downsin og the lakes, caused by cold aire moving over realively warm water, heavy snow downwind
what are snadstorms
occur in arid, semi arid regions, called haboobs, due to downdrafts of leading edge of a thunderstorm
what are dust devils
a small spinning vortex of air formed over hot dry land, as hot wire rises the wind direction may change due to obstacles reulting in a spinning column of air
what are ice storms
freezing rain, rain freezes upon impact on surface
what are droughts
xtended period of unusually lower precipitation
what is the wind whill
corrected factor to the temperature due to the presence of wind
what is the humidex
coffection factor to a temp due to high levels of humidity making ir feel warmer than the tmeperature suggests
how could severe wether hazards be minmized
forecasting, 3 day forcasts are very accurate, weather satellites detect cloud cover
what are the 3 categories of hazardous weather
watch: wide area, conditions favour the development of hazardous weahter but none have been reported
warning: an alert over small areas, currently occuring in the area
advisory: alter public of less haardous weather
