Showing posts with label Tornadoes. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Tornadoes. Show all posts

Thursday, March 10, 2016

F5 Tornado


We just learned that the F4 Tornado on the Fujita Scale is houses totally blown down, small buildings blown away and cars thrown through the air.

The highest level of damage is the F5 tornado - Incredible damage.

This is when houses are lifted up and carried away, large cars are flying through the air, and large steel and concrete buildings are badly damaged.


(from: wikipedia - fujita scale)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Stratocumulus Clouds

Thursday, March 3, 2016

F4 Tornado


We just learned that the F3 Tornado on the Fujita Scale is roofs and walls torn off, trains overturned, forests uprooted and cars thrown.

The next level of damage is the F4 tornado - Devastating damage.
This is when houses are totally blown down. Small buildings like garages are blown away. Cars are thrown through the air.


(from: wikipedia - fujita scale)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Altocumulus Cloud

Thursday, February 25, 2016

F3 Tornado


We just learned that the F2 Tornado on the Fujita Scale is roofs torn off, mobile homes destroyed and trees uprooted.

The next level of damage is the F3 tornado - Severe damage.
This is when roofs and walls have been torn off of houses, trains are overturned, most of the trees in a forest are uprooted, and heavy cars are lifted up and thrown.


(from: wikipedia - fujita scale)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Cirrocumulus Cloud

Thursday, February 18, 2016

F2 Tornado


We just learned that the F1 Tornado on the Fujita Scale is roofs peeled off, and cars are pushed off of roads.

The next level of damage is the F2 tornado - Significant damage.
This is when roofs have been torn off of houses, mobile homes have been destroyed, train boxcars have been turned over, or large trees have been snapped or uprooted.


(from: wikipedia - parameters)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Altostratus Cloud

Thursday, February 11, 2016

F1 Tornado


We just learned that the F0 Tornado on the Fujita Scale is light damage to trees and buildings.

The next level of damage is an F1 Tornado - Moderate damage.
This is when roofs can be peeled off of houses, mobile homes are overturned, cars are pushed off of roads, and some garages can be destroyed.


(from: wikipedia - fujita scale)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Cirrostratus Cloud

Thursday, February 4, 2016

F0 Tornado


We just learned that the fujita scale is used to measure how much damage a tornado does, and it goes from F0 to F5.

An F0 tornado does Light damage.
Some damage is done to chimneys, branches are broken off trees, and shallow rooted trees may be pushed over.

(from: wikipedia - fujita scale)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Nimbostratus Cloud

Thursday, January 28, 2016

Fujita Scale


We just learned about what a Wall Cloud is.

Tornadoes are measured in science using something called the Fujita Scale which goes from F0 to F5, and stands for how much damage a tornado does.

(from: wikipedia - fujita scale)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Stratus Clouds

Thursday, January 21, 2016

Wall Cloud


We just learned that a Tornado Family is multiple tornadoes in one storm.

Another type of weather is a Wall Cloud.

We learned a while back that a shelf cloud is a big cloud that is at the edge of a thunderstorm moving out.

A wall cloud looks a lot like a shelf cloud, but it is on the inside of the thunderstorm, not on the outside edge.


(from: wikipedia - wall cloud)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Cumulonimbus Clouds

Thursday, January 14, 2016

Tornado Family


We just learned about the type of whirlwind called a steam devil.

Remember a while back we learned about a multiple vortex tornado which is one tornado but looks like two close side by side.

Sometimes a supercell storm will have two separate tornadoes in the same storm.
If this happens it is called a tornado family.

(from: wikipedia - tornado family)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Cumulus Clouds

Thursday, January 7, 2016

Steam Devil


We just learned about the firestorm.

Another type of work is a steam devil.

These can appear when there is a spinning whirlwind of air over water, and there is fog that gets pulled up into the whirlwind.


(from: wikipedia - steam devil)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Cirrus Clouds

Thursday, December 31, 2015

Firestorm


We just learned that a fire whirl is a spinning column of burning air.

A firestorm is when a large area like a forest or a city is on fire, and the fire is so large that it starts making it's own wind that blows the fire around.

Sometimes the wind is so strong that it creates fire whirls, so the fire is spreading everywhere and there are fire like tornadoes spinning around.


(from: wikipedia - firestorm)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Dew Point

Thursday, December 24, 2015

Fire Whirl


We just learned about the dust devil.

Another type of whirlwind is a fire whirl.

A fire whirl has a core that is on fire, and a pocket of spinning air.
It can get very hot, up to 2,000 °F, the wind speeds can get up to 100 mph, and they can last for an hour or more.


(from: wikipedia - fire whirl)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Stationary Front

Thursday, December 17, 2015

Dust Devil


We just learned that about the type of storm called a Supercell.

Another thing like a tornado is called a Dust Devil.

These are spinning air that happens without any kind of a thunderstorm around.

Since they happen a lot in the day time, some people in the past thought they were like ghosts.
In the middle east they are sometimes called djin, the word for genie.


(from: wikipedia - dust devil)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Occluded Front

Thursday, December 10, 2015

Supercell


We just learned that the mesocyclone is when spinning wind lifts up into the air.

A supercell is when a mesocyclone happens in a thunderstorm.


(from: wikipedia - supercell)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Warm Front

Thursday, December 3, 2015

Mesocyclone


We just learned that tornadogenesis means the way a tornado starts.

Many tornadoes are started from a mesocyclone.

This happens when wind starts spinning around, and then lifts up into the air.
The air spins up higher and gets bigger and turns into a mesocyclone.

(from: wikipedia - mesocyclone)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Cold Front

Thursday, November 26, 2015

Tornadogenesis


We just learned about how tornadoes can appear different in the sunlight.

Tornadogenesis is the way a tornado starts.

We know there are a lot of different kinds of tornadoes, and they all start in different ways.


(from: wikipedia - tornadogenesis)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Weather Fronts

Thursday, November 19, 2015

Tornado Appearance


We just learned that Tornado Rotation in the northern hemisphere is usually counter clockwise.

Sometimes tornadoes can look really big and scary, and other times they don't look all that big.

A lot of that has to do with where the sunlight is, whether it's behind or in front of the tornado.

If the tornado is in front of the sun, it looks very dark and scary because the light is behind it.
If the sun is behind someone who is looking at a tornado, the light is shining on the tornado and it can make it not look as dangerous.


(from: wikipedia - tornado)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Deposition

Thursday, November 12, 2015

Tornado rotation


We just learned about a Snownado

Let's learn more about tornadoes!

Remember we learned about the equator that goes around the middle of earth, and splits up into the north and south parts, called hemispheres.

When a tornado is in the northern hemisphere, it almost always is spinning in a counter-clockwise direction.
Counter clockwise is the opposite of the direction a clock's hands usually go.


(from: wikipedia - clockwise)

Tornadoes in the southern hemisphere almost always spin in the clockwise direction.

(from: wikipedia - clockwise)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Condensation

Thursday, November 5, 2015

Snownado


We just learned about the type of tornado the Waterspout Tornado.

Another type of weather is called a snownado.

It is also known as a winter waterspout, snow devil, icespout, ice devil, or snowspout.

These are tornadoes that happen over water like a waterspout, but they happen in the winter when it is cold enough out for snow.

Only a few pictures of these snownadoes have ever been taken.


(from: wikipedia - waterspout)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Submilation

Thursday, October 29, 2015

Waterspout Tornado


We just learned about the Multiple Vortex Tornado.


Another type of tornado is called a Waterspout.

A waterspout tornado is a tornado that happens out over the ocean or very large lake.

These tornadoes can sometimes suck up fish, frogs or turtles that are near the surface of the water, and whip them up into the air inside the tornado.

Sometimes when the waterspout tornado gets closer to land, it can throw the fish that it had sucked up into the tornado out over the land, and it will rain fish on the land.

It has rained fish as far as 100 miles away from the coast of the water, so the fish can be carried very far!

(from: wikipedia - waterspout)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Evaporation