Criminal justice

Haley, Jennifer
Professor Underwood
Phsc 2010-A05 Elements of Earth Science
November 6, 2013
Short Report on Tornadoes

Introduction A tornado is defined as a violently rotating column extending from a thunderstorm to the ground. A violent tornado is capable of enormous amount of destruction with wind speeds up to 300 miles per hour. The tornados can reach up to one mile wide and fifty miles long. A report I read said in an average year, 1,500 tornados are reported nationwide which results in estimated 80 deaths and over 1,500 injuries. In my short report, I will explain different methods used, with new of study and tools used, new discoveries and unanswered questions about tornados.
General Overview Throughout history, humans have been amazed by the various forces of nature. Most of them are associated with weather, and that is because so many different weather patterns exist. The diversity in climate will result in a wide range of weather conditions that stretch from relatively calm weather to dangerously destructive storms. Tornados are one of weather’s most phenomenons’ that have been known to occur in almost any climate on Earth; despite the great variation in weather patterns among the world’s many climates. It is important for everyone to understand what tornadoes are since they are one of the world’s most deadly forces of nature. I believe in order to truly understand the danger of tornados; one should know the importance of the current explanations of how and why tornados are formed. Tornados are often started by a storm called, supercell storms. Supercell storms are normally large and severe that will develop in highly unstable environments such as cool, dry air lies above warm, moist air. These types of storms in America usually occur during the spring time, because of the warm moist air that moves from the Gulf of Mexico to the north and eventually meets cooler, dry air. The Midwestern states such as, the panhandle of Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, etc. are where the majority of the country’s tornados occur which is referred to as “tornado alley.”
Methods of Study and Tools Used The Doppler radar is proving to be a valuable tool in predicating the formation of tornados. Meteorologists can identify rotation within clouds thirty minutes before a tornado will emerge by using radar images of a storm. The weather channel will issue a tornado warning for the county and maybe even the surrounding counties at the first sign of a developing tornado. When they issue a warning it just allows the public more time to be ready for the tornado to touch down. The Optical Transient Detector (OTD) was invented in 1995, by NASA. OTD was the first invention able to detect lightning events during both day and night. The main duties were to be able to detect more lightning passing from cloud to cloud than between clouds and Earth just before tornados are formed. The only down fall is that it is only able to find tornados only moments before they hit the ground. However, the positive side of OTD technology is useful in that it can detect formation of a tornado much quicker than the Doppler radar.
New Discoveries Due to the overwhelming discoveries of modern technology, meteorologist and weather researchers have broaden their knowledge in the area of tornado forecasting. The satellite images have given meteorologists the ability to detect the shape of clouds. By detecting the shape and the type of cloud systems that have formed has helped the meteorologist predict whether or not a tornado could be formed. While this method of monitoring has been helpful in the past, the most effective method proven now in monitoring server storms is the use of Doppler radar. The radar has two units which are a transmitter and a receiver. The job of the transmitter is to send out microwaves outward in a certain pattern. The precipitation will separate the microwaves, which in return will send a little energy back to the transmitter and can be detected by the receiver. A radar echo received from the receiver will determine the precipitation. Depending on the time it takes to leave the receiver and return will tell how far the storm is.
Unanswered Questions There are several unanswered questions about tornadoes for example, does it form from the top down or does it form from the bottom up. It could be likely that either or both theories contribute to the tornadoes formation depending on the different environments they occur in. Another unanswered question would be attempting to predict their behavior. Since the winds within a tornado are extremely powerful, the path it chooses to take is highly unpredictable. A tornado is capable of moving a circular motion or moving to the left or right. Since, scientist may never understand the behavior of a tornado the question of which path it may take will remain unanswered.
Conclusion
These are all important facts, reasons and scientific understandings of why tornadoes occur. Tornados are simply natural disasters that we cannot do anything about, we just have to learn to live with them and educate everyone on how deadly they can be. With new information scientists have discovered about tornados and the storms that can create them, the big the mystery of these beasts become.

Bibliography ww.dosomething.org/tipsandtools/11-facts-about-tornados http://www.stormtours.com/media.html http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/weather/wtwistqa.htm http://whyfiles.org/2010/how-does-weather-radar-work/

Bibliography: ww.dosomething.org/tipsandtools/11-facts-about-tornados http://www.stormtours.com/media.html http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/weather/wtwistqa.htm http://whyfiles.org/2010/how-does-weather-radar-work/