MAN AND NATURAL DISASTERS --- Tornadoes; and the wind goes crazy yet again.
I read the story of one Mr James recently. Mr James was trying to narrate a tornado experience he had 9years ago. His description of the event is quite terrifying. On that day his horses were running helter-skelter. He said that the tornado destroyed everything he had, including 50 of his large trees. The sight was terrible, cars were carried away by the wind as if they weigh nothing, even the house he was in was pulled down by the force of the tornado. The tornado destroyed all he had, apart from his chainsaw, that was the only reasonable thing he had left.
Tornadoes are terrible, each time I think of tornadoes, what do come to my mind is the image of a funnel shaped cloud that that can hurl cars and even cows through the air, just like what happened in the movie "Twister". If you have ever seen a tornado you will observe that it is just a mass of spinning air. Well, I haven't seen, if I have I probably won't be discussing with you guys right now. I pray none of us experience that because the emotional stress that accompanies it is quite much. Today we will be discussing about tornadoes, how tornadoes is formed, what causes it and what to do during a tornado. Alright, lets beginning, this discussion is going to be an interesting one.
Meanwhile, check out this post: Clicking Noise in the Dashboard When Car Is Off (Causes & Solutions) to solve your car related problems.
TORNADOES.
We define tornado as a violent rotating column of air whose length is such that it touches the comulonimbus cloud and the earth's surface. In some rare case this violent column air can even be in contact with the base of the cumulus cloud. Tornadoes do appear as a funnel of cloud.
N/B:- The cumulonimbus cloud is part of the cloud where thunderstorms are form.
Like I said earlier, a tornado is just a mass of rotating air, due to its rotating nature, it is referred sometimes referred to as Twisters, whirlwind or cylones. Normally the wind speed of most tornadoes are always less than 180kmph, and can travel for only few kilometres before it vanishes, but there are some severe cases of tornadoes with speed of about 480kmph. These types of tornadoes can travel more than 100km before it vanishes. The amount of damage that can be done by a tornado is dependent on its speed, thus tornadoes with dangerous speed like up to 480kmh can cause so much damage. At this great speed, this twisting wind can pull up trees from their root, even pull down large building and send vehicles flying in the air as if the weigh nothing.
Tornadoes are known to last for 30mins or less, but there are few cases of tornadoes that last up to an hour or more and can even travel a distance over 1km.
HOW TORNADOES ARE FORMED.
Tornadoes are as a result of cumulative effect of repetitive events. Let me explain what I mean by that by stating out step by step processes on how tornadoes are formed.
It all starts when the sun heats up the surface of the earth, due to this increment of heat, the wind that is slightly above the earth's surface becomes warm. Remember that as gases become warm they become lighter, thus this wind that was recently warmed rises to the atmosphere. This ascending warm wind continues to ascend till it meets another mass of wind that is at a very low temperature.
When the cold and the warm air meet, due to their temperature difference a wind shear develops and this causes the two airs to start rotating around each other.
Of course they won't have the same speed, but as the faster air revolve around the slower one, it speed increases.
This continues to a point that the force becomes strong such that the warmer air starts to push the colder air upwards. This upward current of air is known as an updraft, and it is this upwards movement that causes the cylinder shape of a tornado to start forming.
This process keeps repeating, and as the sun keeps heating up the earth's surface and the air close to the ground more warm air rises upward to join the updraft. This causes the updraft to increase in size and if this continues, a point will reach that a vortex that has the energy to power itself is formed. When it gets to this stage, the tornado is fully developed.
OTHER FACTORS THAT CAUSES TORNADO.
Most tornadoes are as a result of a thunderstorm. For the development of a thunderstorm that leads to a tornado, their have to be enough low level moisture in the atmosphere. There is also a need for a cold front to act as a trigger so as to enable the moist air to rise up to the sky.
As the moist air starts rising, due to its relative weight it keeps rising till it gets so high in the sky, when it's there, if the atmosphere is unstable it produces a thunderstorm cloud. When we talk about an unstable atmosphere we mean, an atmosphere that the temperature reduces rapidly as the height decreases. Whenever the moist air that is close to the earth's atmosphere is overlayed by a dry air, the outcome is an atmospheric instability
The areas where the wind in the atmosphere turn with height in a clockwise movement and is also too strong is where tornadoes occur.
A SUPERCELL THUNDERSTORMS.
There are some thunderstorms that have the ability to produce tornadoes with a violent speed of 200mph that can stay on the ground for a long time. These thunderstorms are referred to as supercell thunderstorms. We defined those storms as those long-lived thunderstorms whose updraft and downdrafts are almost in balance.
APPEARANCE OF A TORNADO.
Let's take a moment and describe how a tornado appears. A tornado is like a funnel made of air, that is rotating. Am sure you have seen a funnel before, you know the way the size of the funnel reduces from the top to the bottom, that the same way a tornado appear. Sometimes it appears like a bold rope. Some tornadoes are made up of other smaller whirlwinds that have a common center. This centers are clear and calm, and they are at very low temperature.
Tornadoes have different colours depending on where they are formed and the angle it is viewed.
Based on where they are formed
If it's formed in a dry environment it can be almost invisible. Tornadoes that picks up a little or no debris have a color range of gray to white.
Tornadoes that moves slowly and pick up so much dirt are very dark when compared to other tornadoes. Waterspouts which is a types of tornado that occur over water bodies have a color that ranges from white to blue.
Tornadoes that happen in the flat region of North America grassland can be reddish due to the color of the soil in that area. While those that travel over a snow-covered land takes up the color of snows.
Based on the angle it's viewed
Two people in different positions can view the same tornado and one might claim that the color of the tornado is white, the other might claim its black. This anomaly can be properly understood if we acknowledge that the lighting conditions have a great effect on the appearance of a tornado. When a tornado is viewed with the sun at the back of the observer its color ranges from gray to milky white. Thus when a tornado appears dark it is because you viewed it with the sun behind it. Whenever this happen we say that the tornado is back-lit. Better colors like yellow, pink and orange can be seen in tornadoes that happen close to the time the sun sets.
Tornadoes can be very visible with a smoky look or they may be almost invisible and their presence noted only by the swirling of dirts and stuffs destroyed by the tornado.
N/B:- Remember that there is a difference between normal funnel cloud and a tornado. A column of air that is shaped like cone that starts from the base of a thunderstorm and extends to the ground but it doesn't touch the earth surface, is known as funnel cloud. If this cone shaped column of air touches the ground, it is then referred to as tornado.
TYPES OF TORNADOES.
There are 3 main types of tornadoes which are classified based on how they are formed. They are:-
- Multiple vortex tornado:-
Remember that we said that a tornado can contain more than one vortices. The multiple vortex tornado consist of more than one column of air, each having their own axis but yet having a common center. Each of these vortices cause its individual havoc which appears to be more serious than the damage that occurs in the main path the tornado follows. This kind of tornado is always observed in tornadoes that are quite intense.
Vortex is a spiral moving column of air
- Waterspouts:-
This kind of tornado happens above a water body and they can also be distinguished by their bluish color. There are basically two types of this tornado, they are fair weather watersprouts and tornadic waterspouts. The fairweather waterspouts look so similar to the dust devils and the landspouts, and they are less severe than the tornado waterspouts. They travel very slowly and they have relatively weak winds. The fair weather waterspouts are formed in between the base of the cumulus congestus clouds and tropical or subtropical waters. They normally occur in northern Adriatic Sea and in Florida Keys.
The tornadic waterspouts are stronger tornadoes that cross over waters, they travel at a fast speed. They form more intense thunderstorms than the fair weather waterspouts. They are very dangerous and they last longer.
- Landspout :-
They look so much like the fair weather waterspout, the only difference between the two is that landspouts occur on land. Landspouts are relatively weak and they don't last long. The strength of the landspout tornado is not as strong as those of other common tornadoes, but they can produce winds with so much force that can cause huge damage. Landspouts have the distinctive characteristics of forming a laminar cloud of dust when it comes in contact with the ground.
There are some phenomenons that look so much like the tornado, but they are not classified as tornadoes for one reason or the other, they are
- The gustnado:-
Whenever a cold dry air from a thunderstorm is blown such that it passes through a body of warm stationary moist air, this mass of air starts rolling. This rotating mass of air is known as gustnado and can be turned diagonally or vertically if the low level wind shear is strong enough. What makes gustnado to be different from main tornado is that, even though it touches the ground, it is not connected to a cloud base. Gustnadoes are always associated with gust front, thus the name. They can cause damages too.
- Fire whirls:-
Whenever a tornado-like kind of air rotation is observed close to a heat source that is quite strong, it is called a fire whirl. Fire whirls are not classified as tornadoes because they don't connect with any cloud. Fire whirls can cause an amount of damage even though they are not as strong as tornadoes that occur during a thunderstorm. It is worth noting that any firewhill that connects to a cloud like the cumuliform or the pyrocumulus clouds, it is no longer referred to as a firework but as a tornado.
- Steam devil :-
Steam devils are rotating updraft that are often formed as a result of smoke that comes out from a power plant's smokestack, or due to the steam that forms as a result of the passage of a cold artic air over a relatively warm water. Steam devils rarely occur and they don't rotate very fast like the common tornado.
- Dust devil:-
This is known by most people as whirlwind. They look do much like tornadoes. Though they can cause damages they are not considered as tornadoes because they are formed under a clear sky, fair weather with no cloud. Dust devils are formed as a result of a convective updraft formed close to the earth's surface on a very hot day. This upward current of air can develop cyclonic motion close to the earth if their an enough low level wind shear.
MAN AND TORNADOES.
Right now I will be listing out just four of the most deadliest tornadoes that happened in human history.
The first one we will be considering is the Moore, Oklahoma tornado that happened in may 2013. It happened on a Monday afternoon and the size of the area that felt the impact of the tornado was 2 miles wide and 17 miles. 24 people where conformed dead of which 9 were children, about 230 people were injured and not less than 100 person's were lucky to have been pulled out of rubbles on time.
The tornado destroyed a lot of things. It brought down power lines, or as also caused gas pipes to leak. These and other destroyed things made it quite hard for rescuers to search for survivors. It was calculated that the tornado that caused that destruction must have a wind speed that is more than 166mph, and it lasted for 40 mins.
The second is the Daulatpur-Salturia Tornado that killed about 1300 people in only few minutes. The tornado did hit the manikganj district of Bangladesh during the evening hours of 26 of April 1989. The tornado was quite dangerous. The tornado didn't just take the lives of 1300 people it also destroyed lands, uprooted trees, injured 12000 people and left quite a number of people homeless. The Daulatpur-Salturia Tornado is considered as the most dangerous tornado of all time.
The third tornado I like to make mention is the Madarganj to Mrizapur in Bangladesh on May 1996. The tornado is said to have destroyed the lives of up to, 700 people. It is the second most deadliest tornado known, apart from the Daulatpur-Salturia that requires two tornadoes to cause that same havoc. The tornado destroyed 30000 homes as it traveled from madarganj to mirzapur, leaving so many people homeless.
The last is the 1969 East Pakistan Tornadoes. April 14 1969 was a horrible day for the people living in the old Pakistan, now known as Bangladesh. The first one that happened in the city of Decca in the East of old Pakistan (now called Bangladesh). This tornado took the life of 660 person's and injured about 4000 people.
On that same day another deadly hit Bangladesh but this time in the Homna Upazila, part of the Camilla District in Chittagong, killing about 223 persons on that day. The addition of these two death tolls gave a total of 883 deaths in Bangladesh just in one day. Thus this tornado event is regarded as the second most deadliest tornado event.
HOW TO STOP A TORNADO.
No one really knows. This is because there is no confirmed theory that explains exactly how tornadoes are formed and how they grow so large up to the extent of pulling down houses. Everytime is seems as if scientist are beginning to have a grasp on everything about tornadoes, new discovery are made which kind of cancels all that they have managed to achieve. If man can one day manage to get all the informations about the tornado and also how tornadoes calm down by itself, a solution on how to stop or prevent tornadoes may be discovered.
INDICATORS OF A TORNADO.
When you see these signs just know that a tornado is around the corner and you should run for your life.
Whenever you see a rotating cloud that is shaped like a funnel extending from a thunderstorm to the surface of the earth, just know that a tornado is on its way, and you might want to get to safety.
Always keep your eyes on the sky during a storm, If you notice that the sky turns green or dark in color a tornado might be on its way.
The reason why the sky turns green during a thunderstorm is because of the refraction of the sun light by hails, but if the sky is not green it doesn't mean it's not a tornado. The sky might also be very dark.
If you notice debris falling from the sky like rain, go and hide yourself inside your house.
Their are some tornadoes that are invisible and can only be detected by the movement in f debris. Whenever you notice a cloud of debris rotating and coming forward, it is right to conclude that a tornado is already happening.
Tornadoes make a lot of noise, like a shaking train, this noise is as a result of the velocity of the wind and the collision of debris with each other.
Sometimes, tornadoes occur after a thunderstorm, if a very strange calmness after a tornado, you are free to suspect a tornado.
HOW TO SURVIVE A TORNADO.
There is no 100% safety measure on how to survive a tornado, some tornadoes can be too dangerous up to the extent of blowing houses and it's occupants away. Some tornadoes are not all that powerful, for those ones, these few safety tips might really help.
The first thing every family needs to do in preparation for a tornado is to come to a conclusion on where they are going to meet, in case the tornado is much and everyone have to run for their life.
The next thing to do is to chose the closest place to take shelter in your home during a tornado. If your he has a basement, the best place to hide is in the basement and under a heavy table. If you have a blanket or a mattress, you can use it to cover yourself. Wearing helmet can increase your chances of surviving. Make sure you stay clear from the windows and avoid hiding close to things like refrigerators, televisions e.t.c because they can be pushed down by the tornado and they will fall on you.
If you are in a house that doesn't have a basement, or in a school, in your office, in whatever building, get to the lowest part of the house, or under the stair case, or in a bathroom.
Make sure you stay away from the elevator, there are high chances of the tornado destroying power poles and you getting trapped in the elevator. Once you get to the safest part of the house, crouch down with your face on the floor, protect your head using your hands. You can still cover yourself with a mattress or any other thick covering for additional safety.
In case you are in your car and a tornado starts, the best thing to do, I.e if the tornado is not close is to leave your car and run to a steady structure or an underground, it is safer than being in a car. In case their is none close by, and you are already caught by the flying debris that accompanies tornadoes, pack your car in a good spot, keep your seat belt on bend your head down and protect it with your hand, or a cushion if it's available. Do not pack under a bridge or a sign post, there are chances of it being pulled down by the tornado and it would come crashing on you.
If you are outside in the open and you can't find a place to hide, lie flat on the floor and cover your head with your hands. Make sure that the place you are lying is not close to any car or tree because they might be blown down by the tornado and they will fall on top of you.
WHAT TO DO AFTER A TORNADO.
Gather your family together and check if any was injured by the tornado. If any was, take car of their injury. Be careful as you walk around, watch out for broken bottles, nails and other sharp objects that are scattered on the floor by the tornado. For now reason should you light up a matches or a lighter, in case the tornado caused a gas leak. Also be on the look out for power lines, electricity might still be running through them. Do not enter buildings that were destroyed or partially destroyed by the tornado, because their are high chances that they might collapse at any time. When the local officials and emergency units arrive, do as they tell you to do.
What is left after a tornado hit
MY THOUGHTS
One of my friends sees natural disasters as a way nature displays it's strength, but I don't agree with him. I think that nature displays it's strength in simple things like the way plants grow, water and nitrogen cycle e.t.c. There is something that bugs me whenever I think about any of these natural disasters. I know that whenever we talk about natural disasters we always point out the number of destruction and deaths it causes, but sometimes I can't help but think that maybe nature is trying to push man to a new height of technology.
Fear of the unknown have been a major driving force in human advancement. It was the fear of stuffs like animal attack and weather conditions that made the early men to start thinking of building a shelter in the first place. Since we know that tornadoes pull down houses and other structures built by man, is it not possible for man to put natural disasters like tornadoes into consideration in the building of houses?
I remember when we did a course "CAD and CAM" in university, we ran simulations of machines using softwares like Solid works and Inventor so as to check if the machines can stand real operational conditions. I believe we can do something like that in civil engineering. If only man will allow his mind to be free and think, I believe we can build shelters that we can run to for shelter that can stand any tornado.
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REFERENCES
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I wonder if an artist ever thought of coloring tornadoes using these properties of theirs! Like use lots of material made of different colors and throw them inside the tornado somehow 😃
I agree with your thoughts which justify why you write this post. It was a mixture of science and safety post
If only houses can be built with materials that can withstand tornados and other natural disasters, then we are almost half-way of conquering the destruction from tornadoes.
Definitely @tormiwah, there was a time man thought he couldn't fly, few centuries later man did not just fly, he even went to the space. I believe that with time "tornado proof" houses would become reality.