William B. Rice - Tornadoes

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William B. Rice

Tornadoes

Publishing Credits

Associate Editors

Creative Director

James Anderson

Lee Aucoin

Torrey Maloof

Illustration Manager

Editorial Director

Timothy J. Bradley

Dona Herweck Rice

Publisher

Editor-in-Chief

Rachelle Cracchiolo, M.S.Ed.

Sharon Coan, M.S.Ed.

Science Consultant

Scot Oschman, Ph.D.

Teacher Created Materials

5301 Oceanus Drive

Huntington Beach, CA 92649-1030

http://www.tcmpub.com

ISBN 978-1-4333-0311-1
ePUB ISBN 978-1-5457-2122-3

2010 by Teacher Created Materials, Inc.

Table of

Contents

Here It Comes!

The sky becomes gray and then nearly black before

it turns a strange, sickly green. The howling wind blows

with a mighty whip. Rain falls in a violent downpour, and

hailstones strike the land. Leaves and debris on the land

are tossed across the ground and into the air. A whirling

gray funnel can be seen, reaching from the sky down to

the ground. It roars like a freight train as it rips across the

land. Branches crack and whole trees uproot. Everything

not tied down is pushed or tossed by the powerful wind.

Even things that are secure are tossed and

hurled. Brick walls may tumble and

windows may shatter. Buildings

may even blow to the ground and

scatter into pieces.

Through the turmoil, sirens

blast and wail. They are the

towns emergency warning.

A tornado is here!

Everyone must run for

cover to a basement or other

safe shelter as soon as the

warning comes. A tornado

can be one of the fiercest and

ost powerful storms of all.

A tornado is transparent.

We see it because it picks

up dust or debris, or a

cloud forms in the funnel.

How Many?

Each year, there are
thousands of tornadoes
around the world.

What Makes

a Tornado?

A tornado is a fast and dangerous spinning column of

air with a downward funnel cloud. The cloud acts like a

vacuum when it touches the ground. It moves across the

ground at speeds of about 50 kilometers (30 miles) per

hour.

Scientists do not know exactly why a tornado forms.

But they do know the weather conditions that make it

happen. They are moisture , heat, and lift .

Most people have seen a thunderstorm. A

thunderstorm is made of thunder and lightning. It

often includes rain, but not always. Tornadoes usually

happen in thunderstorms. Thunderstorms can form into

supercells . A supercell is a very large thunderstorm that

A mother

and child

rotates . To rotate is to spin in a circle.

run to a safe

place.

Stay Put and
Stay Safe

You cannot outrun a tornado,
so it is best to get to a safe
place fast when a tornado is
on the way.

Watch Out!

Tornadoes can occur in
a series, one after the
other. One supercell may
create several tornadoes.

The arrow in this

satellite photo of

a supercell shows

the location of a

new tornado.

A tornado

forms

from a

supercell.

What Is It ?

The atmosphere is the mass of
gases (air) surrounding the Earth,
or another body in space.

A thunderstorm can develop a

The supercell can get tilted

supercell inside it. Winds go up, over,

up and down by

down, and back in a circle.

a strong updraft.

Supercells rotate because of winds. Powerful

winds of different temperatures meet. They

come from different levels of the atmosphere. If

they meet in the right way with enough strength,

they turn the storm like a top. This makes a

strong updraft . The updraft moves the supercell

upward. It becomes a tornado when this rotating

storm reaches its funnel to the ground. It can

suck up wind and everything else it meets into the

cell, as a vacuum would.

How Big

and How Fast?

Tornadoes are usually less than

500 meters (1,640 feet) wide.

They can be as wide as 1.5

kilometers (.9 miles). Winds can

move up to about 500 kilometers

(more than 300 miles) per hour.

Tornadoes usually last just a few

minutes, but they can last more

than an hour.

If the vertical supercell keeps going,

it starts sucking wind and everything

else up the cell. A tornado is born.

But what exactly makes the winds in the first place?

The sun is the cause. The sun heats the Earth, but

everything is not heated evenly. The warmer the ground,

the more it heats the air above it. This warm air rises. As it

rises, cooler air floods below it. If the warm air rises quickly,

the cooler air rushes in quickly, too. This is the wind.

As the warm air rises, it begins to cool. When it cools,

it falls. Then it rushes in to take the place of warm air that

is rising. In this way, the cycle of wind continues. It may be

that the cycle creates only a gentle breeze. But it may also

create a fierce and powerful tornado.

Thats Powerful!

A tornados winds are so strong that they can drive a

piece of straw into wood as though it were a nail. It can

also drive wood into metal. In this image, a golf club has

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