The later in the spring season a tornado occurs, the more likely the tornado will be located more northward. As the seasons change, so does the position of the sun in the sky. Tornado season and the frequency of tornadoes migrates with the sun. In fact, the Super Tuesday tornado hit on February 5th and 6th, 2008. In reality, a tornado can strike at any time of the year. Tornado season is a term used only as a guide for when most tornadoes occur in an area. Night tornadoes can be especially dangerous because they are hard to see. Any time there is a severe thunderstorm, there is the potential to have a tornado. Tornadoes commonly occur in the daytime, as reported on the news, but night tornadoes also occur. In fact, there are 5 key reasons the US is the hardest hit with tornadoes.Įach state has a peak time for the chance of a tornado. In the United States, a unique combination of factors including local geology, proximity to water, and movement of frontal systems make the United States a prime location for the formation of tornadoes. As winds get pushed upwards in the updraft, the prevailing direction of rotation is counterclockwise. Since low pressure systems rotate counterclockwise (and this is due to the Coriolis effect), tornado rotation also tends to be inherited from the low pressure systems. So why do tornadoes tend to rotate counter-clockwise? The answer is that the storm moves in the same general direction as the low pressure systems that spawn them. Therefore, the influence of the Coriolis effect on rotation is negligible. While at first it would seem this is a consequence of the Coriolis effect, tornadoes are over almost as quickly as they start. Only about 5% of tornadoes in the Northern Hemisphere rotate clockwise or anticyclonically. Most tornadoes in the Northern Hemisphere rotate counter-clockwise or cyclonically. Fortunately, most tornadoes are short-lived, lasting for only about 5-7 minutes on average. Tornadoes can be considered billion-dollar storms if the storm lasts sufficiently long enough, and has enough wind speed to do maximum property damage. One idea that is generally accepted is that tornadoes are one of the worst, and most violent, of all the types of severe weather. Doswell III of the Cooperative Institute for Mesoscale Meteorological Studies, there is actually no real definition of a tornado that has been universally accepted and peer-reviewed by the scientific community. A point to keep in mind is that this definition is not a truly accepted definition. ![]() The funnel clouds appear to extend downward from cumulonimbus clouds. The important aspect of the definition is that the tornado or funnel cloud is in contact with the ground. A tornado is usually visible, but not always. Photo by Alex Wong/Getty ImagesĪ tornado is a violent column of rotating air made visible as they pick up debris on the ground or in the air. Three Tornadoes touched down in central and southeastern Virginia injuring at least 200 people. ![]() Local residents check out the damage of vehicles at a mall after it was damaged by a tornado Apin the King's Fork area of Suffolk, Virginia.
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