Tornadoes

📖 In short

A tornado is a column of air spinning incredibly fast that hangs down from a thundercloud until it touches the ground, like a huge funnel. It's one of the most destructive winds on Earth, able to rip up trees and lift cars.

🤩 Did you know?

There are hundreds of tornadoes in the United States every year.
Tornado winds can blow faster than 320 kilometers an hour.
When a tornado passes over water, it's called a waterspout.
Some people call a tornado a “twister”.

🔎 Find out more

🌟 How does it form?

Tornadoes form in strong thunderstorms, when winds of different speeds and directions set the air spinning; then rising air lifts it into an upright whirl that drops towards the ground.

🔍 Fast and short

Most tornadoes last only a few minutes and are a few hundred meters wide. But their winds can blow faster than 300 kilometers an hour.

💡 Tornado Alley

Tornadoes happen in many places, but most of all in the middle of the United States, where warm, damp air from the south meets cold, dry air from the north.

🎯 Taking shelter

When a tornado warning comes, people go to the basement or to an inside room with no windows on the ground floor, and protect their heads with their arms.