Tornadoes

Question 1

EF-0

Answer 1

light damage: 29-38m/s

Question 2

EF-5

Answer 2

Incredible damage: >90m/s

Question 3

Tornado prone environment

Answer 3

• ## Great planes area where wind shear is strong and favours supercells

Question 4

supercell tornadoes

Answer 4

-strong wind shear causes air to rotate around horizontal axis
- strong updrafts which occur in forming thunderstorm causes this vortex tube to be carried to a vertical position where is becomes apart of the mesocyclone
- rear-flank downdraft forms as a result of the precipitation induced cooling, which interacts with the forward flank downdraft, causing cool air to circulate around the centre of the mesocyclone, cutting off the supply of rising air
- this causes the updraft to shrink horizontally and increase vertically
- the vertical increase in the updraft causes the spinning air to spin faster
- if this continues a tornado vortex forms
- as air rushes upwards and spins around the low pressure core of vortex, the air expands, cools and forms visible clouds
- air is rapidly cooled and condenses, causing it to descend to surface

Question 5

Non-mesocyclonic tornadoes