Tornado. How is this phenomenon formed?

One of the most destructive phenomena of nature is the tornado. How this whirlwind is formed, sweeping away everything in its path, has not yet been fully understood. The main cause of its appearance is the collision of warm and cold air flows. Usually a tornado is formed during a thunderstorm, and is accompanied by rain or hail. There are times when the vortex is fenced off by the shroud of rain, and this factor makes this phenomenon even more dangerous, since it makes the funnel for the eyes invisible, and people have less time to hide from the tornado. How this creates an incredible threat to life, a long time to explain it is not necessary.

When the tornado forms, the air temperature drops sharply. It takes only a few minutes to make it noticeable. Soon you can see the appearance of the very originator of the "celebration" - a tornado. How this "body" is formed in this case is another interesting and frightening process. From heaven to earth, a peculiar trunk begins to descend, which when it reaches its surface turns into a deadly phenomenon. By the way, a tornado can have a variety of forms. This can be the form of a column, a cone, a glass, a barrel or a beech-like rope. In addition, a tornado can look like an hourglass or the so-called "devil's horns" (these are vortexes with several funnels), as well as many other outlines. However, most often observed such hurricanes have the appearance of a rotating trunk, a pipe or a funnel.

The speed of rotation of air masses inside the funnel can reach 450 kilometers per hour. In addition, the tornado "sucks" into itself everything that occurs in its path. Dangerous is the fact that the air that is inside the funnel is lowered. And the outside, on the contrary, rises. This creates an area of highly rarefied air, because of which objects filled with gas, and sometimes houses, can simply explode.

The location of the appearance of a tornado (as this phenomenon is already known) can be different. But especially "lucky" to observe such vortexes North American continent. The central states of the United States are most susceptible to the "attack" of tornadoes; In this sense, the eastern states are easier to live. For example, the state of Florida acquired fame as the "edge of water tornadoes." Vortices come here from the sea almost every day.

Incredible strength and power also had a tornado in Oklahoma, which "strolled" across the state on May 20, 2013. The diameter of the funnel of this vortex was three kilometers, and the wind speed inside it reached 320 kilometers per hour. This tornado destroyed two schools, in which at that time there were classes, as well as a hospital. The number of victims was simply enormous, and the material damage caused amounted to three billion dollars. This tornado of 2013 on the power assessment scale received the maximum level of danger - EF-5.

It should be noted that very often the so-called "tornado hunters" are the victims of these dangerous phenomena. Are they desperate and bold (or stupid?) People, shooting tornadoes at the closest possible distance. There have been cases when these brave souls managed to photograph even the epicenter of the vortex. However, whether these pictures and videos are worth to expose their lives to such a danger - everyone decides this question for himself.