

More people die each year in flash floods and from lightning than are killed by tornadoes. Due to improvements in forecasting and emergency preparedness in recent years, this number has been reduced to a yearly average of fewer than fifty people killed. In the early part of the twentieth century, tornadoes killed an average of two hundred people each year in the United States.

People, animals, cars, and all types of household items have been tossed about by tornadoes. The winds can uproot trees and pick up entire buildings, only to deposit them hundreds of yards away. A tornado's high winds (and to a lesser extent its low pressure), cause walls to buckle and roofs to be lifted off and carried away.

Tornadoes are sometimes called "twisters" or "cyclones," although the term cyclone is also used to described hurricanes in the Indian Ocean.Ī tornado destroys nearly everything in its path. The tornado rotates around a vertical axis of extremely low pressure called a vortex. Tornado Tri-state tornado delivers death and destruction Dangerous science: How tornadoes form Life cycles of tornadoes Consequences of tornadoes The human factor Technology connection A matter of survival For More InformationĪ tornado is a rapidly spinning column of air that extends from a thunderstorm cloud to the ground.
