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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Multiple Vortex Tornado

We just learned about the type of tornado the landspout tornado

Another type of tornado is called the multiple vortex tornado.

This type of tornado looks like two tornadoes right next to each other!


(from: wikipedia - multiple-vortex tornado)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Water Vapor

Landspout Tornado

We just learned that a funnel cloud is a type of cloud that is almost a tornado but does not touch the ground.

Another type of tornado is called a landspout.
This type looks like a long tube coming up from the ground, and then connecting to the funnel cloud at the top.


(from: wikipedia - landspout)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Troposphere

Funnel Cloud

We just learned that a tornado is a column of spinning air that is touching both the ground and the clouds.

If the air is spinning by the clouds so much that it makes a funnel shape,
but it is not touching the ground that is called a funnel cloud.
(from: wikipedia - funnel cloud)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Clouds

Tornado

We just learned about the type of weather the snow roller.

Another type of weather is a tornado.

Tornadoes are a column of air that is spinning violently, and is touching both the ground and the clouds.

They are very dangerous, and have nicknames like twisters and cyclones.


(from: wikipedia - tornado)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Hydrogen

Snow Roller

We just learned about what a blizzard is.

Another type of weather is called a snow roller.

When there is a strong enough wind and the right kinds of snow are piled on top of each other, the wind can blow some small chunks of snow around and it can collect into larger and larger snow balls. This is the same kind of snow rolling used in making snowmen, but this is just done with no one else around.

Sometimes it makes a ball just like making a snowman, and sometimes it makes a long roll like a carpet being rolled up.


(from: wikipedia - snow roller)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Titanium

Blizzard

We just learned about what a dust storm is.

A blizzard is a type of snow storm where there are 35 mile per hour winds for over 3 hours.

(from: wikipedia - blizzard)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: sulfur

Dust Storm

We just learned about what a sand storm is.

Another type of weather is a dust storm.

It is a lot like a sand storm, but instead of a big rolling cloud of heavy sand, it is more like a fog of dust all around everything, sometimes as high as one mile off the ground.

It is dangerous to be outside breathing the air in a dust storm, and the dust can ruin crops and machines, and even spread diseases all over the world.

(from: wikipedia - dust storm)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Oxygen

Sand Storm

We just learned about Freezing Rain.

Another type of weather is called a sand storm.

When strong winds come along over desert areas with lots of sand, the wind keeps blowing on them until they are shaking.
The wind keeps blowing and eventually the sand is blown up just a little off the ground and is bouncing along the ground.
As the wind keeps up for a long time, more and more sand is blown up into the air higher and higher until it becomes a giant sand storm.

Sand storms can be 50 feet high, as tall as a five story building, and it is very dangerous to get caught in one.
It is not good for you to breathe in sand, so you have to cover your whole face up and get inside quick!


(from: wikipedia - dust storm)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Potassium

Freezing Rain

We just learned about heat lightning.

Another type of weather is called freezing rain.

We know that snow is when ice crystals form in clouds, hail is when drops of water freeze in clouds, sleet is when snow falls down and melts and re-freezes.

Freezing rain is when water droplets fall down from the cloud when it is really cold out, but the water doesn't freeze until right when it hits the ground.

This can be really dangerous because unlike snow you can't really see it, but the ground can be totally covered in a sheet of thin slippery ice.
It can coat trees and plants in ice too which can cause them to fall over or lose branches.
The ice made by freezing rain is called glaze.

(from: wikipedia - freezing rain)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Corundum

Heat Lightning

We just learned about thunder snow.

There is also something interesting called heat lightning.

Sometimes when you are out in the evening on a hot sunny day, you can see lightning flashes from very far away but you don't hear any thunder.

There actually is some thunder for the lightning, but since the skies are clear you can see very far and the sound of the thunder doesn't reach that far.



(from: wikipedia - heat lightning)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Calcium

Thundersnow

We always think of thunder coming with lightning in a rain storm.

But thunder can even happen during snow!

One big difference between regular thunder and thundersnow is that the snowflakes falling down make the thunder quieter, so you can't hear the thunder noise from as far away.

The snowflakes are like padding that gets in the way of the sound and keeps it from going very far.

(from: wikipedia - thundersnow)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Magnesium