Tornado Facts!
Learn about one of nature’s most powerful forces!
Take shelter, gang – because here at National Geographic Kids, we’re entering the eye of the storm with ten tornado facts!
Check out our ten top facts about tornadoes…
1) Tornadoes – also known as “twisters” – are violently rotating columns of air that reach from a storm cloud to the earth’s surface.
2) The winds of a tornado can reach speeds of up to 480km per hour – that’s strong enough to peel the roofs off houses, uproot trees and hurl heavy objects, such as cars, hundreds of metres!
3) Tornadoes come in different shapes and sizes. Some may appear as wide funnel-shaped clouds, others as thin rope-like swirls stretching from the ground to the sky.
4) The duration of tornadoes, and the distance they travel, varies. Most last less than ten minutes and travel five to ten kilometres before disappearing. In extreme cases, however, they can last several hours and cross distances over 150km!
5) Tornadoes are measured using the Fujita Scale (or F-scale), ranging from F0 to F5, with F5 being the strongest and most destructive.
6) The deadliest tornado ever recorded was in Bangladesh in 1989. As it travelled through the Dhaka region of the country, more than 20 villages were destroyed and around 1,300 people were killed.
7) Most of the world’s tornadoes occur in the United States in what’s known as Tornado Alley. Stretching from west Texas to North Dakota, this area can see more than 200 tornadoes each year!
8) If a tornado occurs over water, it’s called a waterspout.
9) Not all tornadoes are easy to see. In fact, they can be invisible until they pick up dust and debris, or a cloud forms within the spinning funnel.
10) The formation of a tornado is so complex that scientists still don’t completely understand it. And what’s more, the unpredictability of tornadoes makes them difficult – and dangerous – to study. A tornado will demolish everything in its path, including measuring equipment. And so, the secrets behind this incredible force of nature are yet to be discovered…
Photos: Getty Images UK
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Sophia pineda
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Tanushiya Jayachandran
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I know how people survive tornadoes !!! When an American house is built near Tornado Alley , apart from a basement a bunker made out of 4-6 inches thick is made and in the houses security system a siren and detector for tornadoes are fitted so in case of a tornado about a hundred meters away the siren goes off in time for everyone to grab their prized possessions and other items and get into the bunker . Thats how people survive tornadoes without dying . If anyone has questions ask!
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Havent seen a tornado in six years and the last time it was a F0 so I was fine and well
Tasneem
Its sad that so many people died in Bangladesh. Also Im from there and so are my parents.
Tyj355
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Thanks Nat geo Kids for helping me complete my speech
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I am so glad that i live in UK.
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maddison106
this is some scary stuff i want to be near a twister but then again id rather be in northern ireland cause there is not snakes or massive spiders or twisters or tsuiamis really nothing to bad except for rain rain and more rain including snow
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Cool but fell bad for the people who died in this incident
RealDanTDM
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cool, but I hate tornados
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IM USING THIS FOR MY HOMEWORK!!!
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awesome information dude
Georgina
How big are tornados
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