Portal:Tornadoes

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.

Selected tornado article -

A large hailstone, about 6 cm (2.4 in) in diameter

Hail is a form of solid precipitation. It is distinct from ice pellets (American English "sleet"), though the two are often confused. It consists of balls or irregular lumps of ice, each of which is called a hailstone. Ice pellets generally fall in cold weather, while hail growth is greatly inhibited during low surface temperatures.

Unlike other forms of water ice precipitation, such as graupel (which is made of rime ice), ice pellets (which are smaller and translucent), and snow (which consists of tiny, delicately crystalline flakes or needles), hailstones usually measure between 5 mm (0.2 in) and 15 cm (6 in) in diameter. The METAR reporting code for hail 5 mm (0.20 in) or greater is GR, while smaller hailstones and graupel are coded GS. (Full article...)

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In late April 2014, a tornado outbreak in the central and southern United States produced multiple long-track tornadoes – at least seven were deadly, causing over 35 fatalities. One additional death occurred in Florida, due to severe flooding associated with this system. (Full article...)

Selected image -

Radar image of a supercell thunderstorm near Houston, Mississippi, on April 27, 2011.

Selected tornado year -

Tracks of all US tornadoes in 1974.

This page documents the tornadoes and tornado outbreaks of 1974, primarily in the United States. Most tornadoes form in the U.S., although some events may take place internationally. Tornado statistics for older years like this often appear significantly lower than modern years due to fewer reports or confirmed tornadoes. (Full article...)

Related portals

2024 tornado activity

EF3-rated tornado damage in Winchester, Indiana

A significant early spring tornado outbreak occurred throughout the Midwestern and Northeastern United States, with the most significant impacts occurring in Indiana and Ohio. More than two dozen tornadoes occurred, eight of them strong to intense. National Weather Service offices issued multiple 'Particularly Dangerous Situation' tornado warnings. Strong tornadoes produced major damage in the communities of Selma and Winchester in Indiana, and Fryburg and Lakeview in Ohio. One person died in Winchester, and three people were killed in Lakeview. Other significant tornadoes caused damage in Kansas, Arkansas, and Kentucky, with scattered weak tornadoes confirmed in several other states.

In addition to tornadoes, severe weather occurred across the West and East South Central U.S. Damaging winds and large hail was reported in Oklahoma, Missouri, and parts of the Deep South. Heavy rainfall and flash flooding was reported in Tennessee and Kentucky. (Full article...)

Tornado anniversaries

June 21

• 1901 – An F4 tornado or tornado family passed near Naper and Lynch, Nebraska. Three farms were completely swept away. Ten people died in two families, with bodies carried a quarter mile (400m), and eight others were injured.
• 1969 – An F3 tornado hit Salina, Kansas, injuring 60 people. In all, 104 homes were heavily damaged or destroyed and 571 sustained minor damage. Ten businesses were also destroyed.

June 22

• 1919 – An F5 tornado destroyed about 400 buildings in Fergus Falls, Minnesota, killing 57 people. Many of the deaths were in a 3-story hotel that was completely leveled.
• 2007 – Canada's only official F5 tornado destroyed several homes on the edge of Elie, Manitoba. Amateur video shows the narrow, but extremely intense tornado lifting a well-anchored brick house into the air, where it disintegrated. Despite the violence of the event, only one person was injured.

June 23

• 1944 – an unusual and violent tornado outbreak struck the Mid Atlantic region, killing at least 154 people. At least 100 of those deaths were from a long-track F4 tornado that moved across northern West Virginia, with 72 deaths in Shinnston and nearby farming communities. Another F4 tornado or tornado family, which killed 30 people, began near Wellsburg, West Virginia, cut across southwestern Pennsylvania, and continued into Maryland. Twenty-two people died in Greene County, Pennsylvania, including 10 in Chartiers. Yet another F4 tornado killed 17 people in the devastation of McKeesport.

Did you know…

• ...that the 2013 Moore tornado that struck Moore and Newcastle, Oklahoma, is the most recent EF5 tornado?
• ...that the 2021 South Moravia tornado, an IF4 tornado with winds between 207–260 mph (333–418 km/h), was the strongest tornado to hit the Czech Republic in modern history?

General images -

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

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  Aerial view of EF3 damage in Mayfield the day after the tornado (from 2021 Western Kentucky tornado)
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  Widespread devastation in a residential area of Dawson Springs (from 2021 Western Kentucky tornado)
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  Low-end EF4 damage to a business in downtown Cayce (from 2021 Western Kentucky tornado)
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  Debris and destroyed homes along Alexander Street in Dawson Springs (from 2021 Western Kentucky tornado)
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  EF3 damage to businesses in downtown Dresden, Tennessee. (from Tornado outbreak of December 10–11, 2021)
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  Derecho moving across eastern Nebraska and western Iowa (from December 2021 Midwest derecho and tornado outbreak)
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  High-end EF4 damage to a house in Bremen (from 2021 Western Kentucky tornado)
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  Radar collage of a supercell that spawned a tornado family during the outbreak (from Tornado outbreak of December 10–11, 2021)
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  A liquor store that was destroyed in the western part of Bowling Green, Kentucky. (from Tornado outbreak of December 10–11, 2021)
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  Trees that were completely debarked and denuded near Buckeye, Arkansas. (from Tornado outbreak of December 10–11, 2021)
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  Major structural damage to a house near Hartford (from 2021 Western Kentucky tornado)
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  A multi-ton freight car that was thrown from the tracks in Barnsley (from 2021 Western Kentucky tornado)
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  High-end EF3 damage to homes in the Creekwood subdivision in Bowling Green, Kentucky. Numerous fatalities occurred in this area. (from Tornado outbreak of December 10–11, 2021)
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  Radar 3D volume scan of the supercell showing debris lofted over 30,000 feet (9.1 km) in the air as the tornado struck Mayfield (from 2021 Western Kentucky tornado)
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  A satellite view of the extratropical cyclone that was responsible for the tornado outbreak on December 11. (from Tornado outbreak of December 10–11, 2021)

Featured Article or List -

This is either a featured article or featured list, which represents some of the best articles on English Wikipedia.

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The California Closets Warehouse that was severely damaged by the tornado

The 2006 Westchester County tornado was the strongest and largest tornado in Westchester County, New York since the 1904 Chappaqua tornado. It touched down there on Wednesday, July 12, 2006, and traveled 13 miles (21 km) into southwestern Connecticut during a 33-minute span through two states. The tornado touched down at 3:30 p.m. EDT (19:30 UTC) on the shore of the Hudson River before becoming a waterspout and traveling 3 mi (5 km) across the river. Coming ashore, the tornado entered Westchester County and struck the town of Sleepy Hollow at F1 intensity. After passing through the town, it intensified into an F2 tornado and grew to almost a one-quarter mile (400 m) in diameter. The tornado continued through the county, damaging numerous structures, until it crossed into Connecticut at 4:01 p.m. EDT (20:01 UTC). Not long after entering the state, it dissipated in the town of Greenwich at 4:03 p.m. EDT (20:03 UTC). When the tornado entered Westchester County, it was the eighth known tornado to either touch down or enter the county since 1950.

Two barns and a warehouse were destroyed, and a large stained-glass window was shattered. Numerous homes and businesses were damaged and thousands of trees were uprooted. There were no fatalities and only six minor injuries were associated with the storm. The cost of damages was estimated at $12.1 million. (Full article...)

List of Featured articles and lists
Hurricane Katrina tornado outbreak List of Connecticut tornadoes List of tornadoes in the 1999 Oklahoma tornado outbreak 1999 Sydney hailstorm

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Related WikiProjects

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.

Wikipedia is a fully collaborative effort by volunteers. So if you see something you think you can improve, be bold and get to editing! We appreciate any help you can provide!

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