Portal:Tornadoes

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The Tornadoes Portal

A tornado near Anadarko, Oklahoma, in 1999
Tornadoes are violently rotating columns of air that are in contact with the Earth and either a cumulonimbus or a cumulus cloud. Tornadoes are often referred to as twisters, whirlwinds, or cyclones. While most tornadoes attain winds of less than 110 miles per hour (180 km/h), are about 250 feet (80 m) across, and travel a few miles (several kilometers), the wind speeds in the most intense tornadoes can reach 300 miles per hour (480 km/h), are more than two miles (3 km) in diameter, and stay on the ground for dozens of miles (more than 100 km). Various types of tornadoes include the multiple vortex tornado, landspout, and waterspout. Other tornado-like phenomena that exist in nature include the gustnado, dust devil, fire whirl, and steam devil. Most tornadoes occur in North America (in the United States and Canada), concentrated in a region nicknamed the Tornado Alley. Tornadoes also occur in South America, South Africa, Europe, Asia, and Oceania.
Photos from National Severe Storms Laboratory (NSSL) in Norman, Oklahoma show staff and instrument chasing tornadoes during the first VORTEX project from 1994 to 1995. The first photo was in Graham, Texas, and the second southeast of Shamrock, Texas.

Storm chasing is broadly defined as the deliberate pursuit of any severe weather phenomenon, regardless of motive, but most commonly for curiosity, adventure, scientific investigation, or for news or media coverage. A person who chases storms is known as a storm chaser or simply a chaser.

While witnessing a tornado is the single biggest objective for most chasers, many chase thunderstorms and delight in viewing cumulonimbus and related cloud structures, watching a barrage of hail and lightning, and seeing what skyscapes unfold. A smaller number of storm chasers attempt to intercept tropical cyclones and waterspouts. (Full article...)
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This is a list of all tornadoes that were confirmed by local offices of the National Weather Service in the United States from October to December 2014. Based on the 1991–2010 averaging period, 61 tornadoes occur across the United States throughout October, 58 through November, and 24 through December.

Multiple outbreaks struck during October, the biggest of which occurred between October 13-15. The month finished above average with 73 tornadoes. In comparison, November saw only two small outbreaks and significantly below average with only 23 tornadoes. December featured the first tornado to strike Los Angeles in a decade as well as a deadly outbreak between December 23-24. The month finished near average with 20 tornadoes. (Full article...)
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Tracks of all tornadoes in the United States in 2004

This page documents notable tornadoes and tornado outbreaks worldwide in 2004. Strong and destructive tornadoes form most frequently in the United States, Bangladesh, and Eastern India, but they can occur almost anywhere under the right conditions. Tornadoes also develop occasionally in southern Canada during the Northern Hemisphere's summer and somewhat regularly at other times of the year across Europe, Asia, and Australia. Tornadic events are often accompanied with other forms of severe weather, including strong thunderstorms, strong winds, and hail.

The United States recorded more tornadoes during this year than any other year on record, with 1,817 touching down across the country. (Full article...)
List of tornadoes by year

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2024 tornado activity

Map of tornado warnings and confirmed tornadoes from the outbreak

From April 26–28, 2024, a very large, deadly and destructive tornado outbreak occurred across the Midwestern, Southern, and High Plains regions of the United States, primarily on April 26 and 27. The Storm Prediction Center (SPC) first issued an enhanced risk for the Plains on April 26, as a broad upper-trough moved eastwards, with tornadic activity erupted in the states of Iowa and Kansas that evening. A moderate risk was issued by the SPC on April 27 for areas further south in Oklahoma, where a deadly nocturnal event unfolded with many supercell thunderstorms and tornadoes tracking over towns several times. Millions were put under a particularly dangerous situation (PDS) tornado watch on April 27, and several PDS tornado warnings were issued that night as numerous strong tornadoes touched down. The outbreak served as the beginning of a broader 16-day period of constant severe weather and tornado activity across the United States that would continue until May 10.

Damaging tornadoes occurred across many states over the two days of the outbreak. On April 26, a tornado in Lancaster County, Nebraska, injured three people, which touched down in the northeastern outskirts of Lincoln, Nebraska. At least six fatalities were attributed to the tornadoes, with more than 156 people injured. At least twenty eight tornadoes were confirmed, with ten in Iowa and one each in Nebraska and Texas. Significant damage was also reported in Elkhorn and near Bennington, Nebraska, from an EF3 wedge tornado that prompted a tornado emergency. Another long-tracked tornado in Iowa that impacted Shelby County, Iowa, prompted two tornado emergencies as well. On April 27, several tornadoes occurred in Texas, Oklahoma, and Kansas. Overnight, a significant tornado passed near Holdenville, Oklahoma, causing at least two fatalities and four injuries. A tornado impacted Sulphur, Oklahoma, as well, causing at least 30 injuries.

The outbreak was the largest since a similarly large and deadly outbreak the year prior, although this one was spread out over a slightly larger time period and was not as deadly, with only 6 people dying as a result of this outbreak, and over 150 people being injured. With a grand total of 138 tornadoes over a two-day period, the tornado outbreak gained 87 points on the outbreak intensity score. (Full article...)

Tornado anniversaries

May 11

  • 1953 – An F5 tornado, obscured by heavy rain, leveled a potion of Waco, Texas and killed 114 people, including 30 in a six-story building that collapsed in downtown Waco. This was one of the first tornadoes to be matched with a hook echo by weather radar, but no warning was communicated to residents.
  • 1970 – An F5 tornado killed 26 people and destroyed more than 1,000 homes and apartment units in Lubbock, Texas. Ted Fujita led a detailed study of the damage from this tornado, using it to develop the levels of the Fujita scale and improve the understanding of multiple vortex tornadoes.

May 12

May 13

  • 1908 – An F4 tornado killed 49 people as it devastated of Gilliam, Bolinger, and Belcher. Only two homes remained standing in Gilliam, where 34 people died. Nine were killed on the south side of Bolinger and six died in one family near Belcher.
  • 1980 – An F3 tornado moved through downtown Kalamazoo, Michigan, killing 5 people, injuring 79, and leaving 1,200 homeless.
  • 1996 – A tornado struck the Jamalpur and Tangail Districts of Bangladesh, killing an estimated 700 people.

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The following are images from various tornado-related articles on Wikipedia.

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Picture of a house destroyed by the Wallingford Tornado of 1878

Although historically the U.S. state of Connecticut is not typically known to fall casualty to tornadoes, more than 100 of these powerful storms have affected the state in modern history, resulting in at least 48 deaths, 780 injuries, and more than $500 million in damage. This list of tornadoes in the state is likely incomplete, as official records date back only to 1950 for tornadoes in the United States.

As with most of the northeastern United States, the number of tornadoes peaks in the summer months, normally in July or August. Hartford County has had the most tornadoes in the state, although since 1950 Litchfield County has reported the most tornadoes. Several areas have been struck more than once, and Waterbury has been struck by no less than four tornadoes since 1955. (Full article...)

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The scope of WikiProject Severe weather is to write articles about severe weather, namely thunderstorms and tornadoes. Their talk page is located here.

WikiProject Weather is the main hub for all articles that are weather-related. WikiProject Weather strives to improve articles in a variety of weather topics, including Tropical Cyclones, Severe Weather, General meteorology, Non-tropical Storms, Climate, Floods, Droughts and wildfires, Meteorological instruments and data, Meteorological Biographies, and Space Weather. If you would like to help, please visit the project talk page.

WikiProject Meteorology is a collaborative effort by dozens of Wikipedians to improve the quality of meteorology- and weather-related articles. If you would like to help, visit the project talk page, and see what needs doing. The project is currently being merged into WikiProject Weather.

WikiProject Tropical cyclones is a daughter project of WikiProject meteorology. The dozens of semi-active members and several full-time members focus on improving Wikipedia's coverage of tropical cyclones.

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