How does a tornado form? -Warm moist Gulf air meets cold Canadian air and dry air from the Rockies -The most destructive and deadly tornadoes occur from supercells--which are rotating thunderstorms with a well-defined radar circulation called a mesocyclone.supercells -In order for a tornado to form, a cumulonimbus (anvil cloud) needs to be Present (thunderstorm). So basically…… INGREDIENTS FOR A TORNADO: -WARM,MOIST AIR -COLD, DRY AIR -WARM, DRY AIR

-Large-scale storms always rotate counterclockwise in the northern hemisphere because of the "Coriolis force" based on the rotation of the earth. -They rotate because of the combination of warm and cold, dry and most air. -Most move from southwest to northeast, or west to east.

F0 (Gale Tornado) 40-72mph: Some damage to chimneys, breaks branches off trees; pushes over shallow-rooted trees; damages sign boards. F2 (Moderate Tornado) mph: The lower limit is the beginning of hurricane wind speed; peels surface off roofs; mobile homes pushed off foundations or overturned; moving autos pushed off the roads; attached garages may be destroyed. F3 (Significant Tornado) mph: Considerable damage. Roofs torn off frame houses; mobile homes demolished; boxcars pushed over; large trees snapped or uprooted; light object missiles generated. F4 (Sever Tornado) mph: Roof and some walls torn off well constructed houses; trains overturned; most trees in forests uprooted F5 (Incredible Tornado) mph: Strong frame houses lifted off foundations and carried considerable distances to disintegrate; automobile sized missiles fly through the air in excess of 100 meters; trees debarked; steel re-inforced concrete structures badly damaged. F6 (Inconceivable Tornado) mph:These winds are very unlikely. The small area of damage they might produce would probably not be recognizable along with the mess produced by F4 and F5 wind that would surround the F6 winds. Missiles, such as cars and refrigerators would do serious secondary damage that could not be directly identified as F6 damage. If this level is ever achieved, evidence for it might only be found in some manner of ground swirl pattern, for it may never be identifiable through engineering studies

The Fujita scale measures tornadoes based on their intensity and the damage caused. The Fujita Scale’s levels are F0-F6 (Gale, Moderate, Significant, Sever, Incredible, Inconceivable )

In the year of tornadoes… THE TOTAL NUMBER OF TORNADOS… PRELIMINARY TORNADOES: Represent the number of tornadoes seen by spectators. In January there were 10 preliminary count and 16 actual tornados In February there were 61 preliminary tornadoes and 61 actual tornadoes In march there were 95 preliminary tornadoes In April there were 875 preliminary tornados In may there were 35

-Tornadoes can continue for just a couple of seconds to more than an hour. Most last for about 10 minutes. About 1,000 tornadoes hit the US, yearly.

What is the tornado alley: it is a nickname (in the Unites States) where the largest concentration of reported tornadoes hit. It is also the area where the most severe tornadoes occur. If you wanted to know the exact location of the tornado alley, it would actually be made up of hundreds of little strips, and never one large alley.

The most extreme tornado to date was the tri-state tornado. It devastated through Missouri, Illinois, & Indiana on March 18, Most likely it was an F5, though the Fujita scale didn’t come into play until later. It traveled 219 miles, and lasted 3.5 hours. It was the deadliest tornado in the US, killing 695 people. Massive Tornado videos:

1. Find a safe place under a table in a lower level of a building. 2. If you can’t find a basement, go to a first floor, small room (opposite side of tornado). Stay away from windows. 3. In schools, churches, and shopping centers, there are designated shelters away from outside walls, windows, and large rooms (malls, auditoriums). Get under a table or counter or in a restroom or small storeroom. DO NOT GO TO YOUR PARKED CAR 4. In a vehicle, drive away at a right angle to the storm movement. DO NOT GET CAUGHT IN YOUR VEHICLE. Abandon your vehicle and lie in a ditch or culvert or under a low bridge. Overall: Underground and under a table are the watchwords. People who get under something usually survive.

Works Cited "2011 Tornado Season Statistics - Thorntonweather.com." Borrero, Francisco. "13.2 Severe Weather." Earth Science: Geology, the Environment, and the Universe. Student Ed. [S.l.]: Glencoe/McGraw-Hill, Print. Denver and Thornton, Colorado Weather with Realtime Conditions, Radar, Forecasts, Analysis, Trends and Historical Data - Thorntonweather.com. Denver Web Host, Web. 20 May "2011 Tornado Season Statistics - Thorntonweather.com." Kling, Andrew A. Tornadoes. San Diego, CA: Lucent, Print.