The USA is a prosperous country. In which many would like to live or just visit. However, just as there is a silver lining, there are no ideal places to live. Natural disasters often occur in America: it is regularly flooded with torrential rains, strong tornadoes and tornadoes often sweep over it. These natural phenomena are so strong that they can literally sweep away a small town.
But almost all the misfortunes are brought precisely by a tornado in the USA. Every year, they leave residents homeless over their heads, and also kill hundreds of people.
This natural phenomenon is of particular interest to thrill-seekers. There is hardly a person who has not heard about tornado hunters. They examine it from the inside, they know how this force will behave and what to expect from it.
The birth of a tornado
This natural disaster appears when two atmospheric fronts meet - cold and warm. It is a very strong whirlwind. A tornado appears in the United States from the so-called mother cloud. This is an ordinary dark cloud, which is full before a thunderstorm. That is why ordinary people rarely can predict trouble, because outwardly it looks the same as ordinary.
A funnel forms in this cloud, because the cold air tends to fall lower and the warm rises. The rapid movement of the atmosphere in a spiral leads to the fact that the vortex can sink to the ground or remain suspended in the air.
As already noted, a tornado is an atmospheric whirlwind of terrible destructive force, which is born on the border of warm and cold atmospheric fronts. Birth is a fairly accurate term because a natural disaster appears from the “mother cloud” - a thundercloud, which at the first stage is completely harmless and does not cause any suspicion among civilians.
When the tornado reaches the earth, it begins to "crawl" over it. A tornado hurricane moves erratically, it is impossible to predict the path of its path. This makes the whirlwind especially dangerous, since it is never known what to do and where to run if a person is in an open area.
The time of the tornado riot in the United States is also difficult to predict - from a few seconds to hours.
A person caught in the epicenter of a vortex can die not only from a fall from a great height, but also from a collision with other objects that a hurricane sweeps in its path.
Tornado hunters
Not all people are taken by surprise by the elements. Some extreme scientists are deliberately looking for encounters with destructive power in order to study this natural monster, understand the principles of its behavior and learn to tame the whirlwinds. Some seek to get inside for the thrill and vivid impression, others want to make discoveries that will help to avoid further damage.
Such people are called nothing more than tornado hunters.
The murderous phenomenon is being pursued on cars equipped with many devices and video equipment. Such a hobby, although extremely dangerous, is gaining more and more fans every year who are willing to risk their lives for priceless shots and dimensions.
In search of danger
Most tornadoes in the world are found in the United States of America. There is even a term - Alley. It is located in such states: Texas, South Dakota, Kansas, Oklahoma, Missouri. This is a conditional line on which the probability of the appearance of a deadly vortex is especially high, since it is here that cold and warm atmospheric fronts meet. The largest number of tornadoes occur in Texas.
Statistics show that along this line, tornadoes in the United States occur about a thousand times in one year. And although from the middle of the last century all tornadoes were carefully recorded, it is practically impossible to trace the beginning of each, since it is difficult to notice small objects, and their appearance is unpredictable.
Tornado Alley is located between the Appalachian Mountains and the Rocky Mountains. This area is characterized by dry frequent droughts, and it is on it that the place where hot air meets humid air is located.
A peculiar “Sabbath” of whirlwinds was also recorded here, when at the same time 37 tornadoes of various powers broke out. This happened in 1965. Then many settlements were hit hard.
What happens in the heart of the storm
The pressure inside the funnel is very low, because a difference is formed between the center and the extreme zones. The focus is also called the zone of calm, or the eye.
This phenomenon was discovered by a journalist from France, Moulins, when he dared to fly through the horror of a tornado to see what was happening inside this monster.
Later, witnesses of a natural disaster in one of the states confirmed this. A whirlwind flew over their heads without touching the ground, so they were able to discern its "insides."
The pressure drop leads to the fact that objects that fall inside, simply torn to pieces. There is a known case when a tornado in America “plucked” chickens. Having captured the birds, after a while he set them free, but left them without feathers. This phenomenon is explained by the fact that at the base of the feathers there is an air cushion, which is torn and separated them from the skin of birds.
Types of Tornadoes
There are several types of vortices, which depend on the place of occurrence, material (sand, water, air), intensity and even shape.
Most often, scavenger, or scourge tornadoes are found. In the world such tornadoes are found almost everywhere where a clash of atmospheric fronts occurs.
Such objects are thin, straight or winding, "sprout" from the clouds to the ground.
So-called blurry specimens appear a little less often. A large radius of coverage and similarity to a simple cloud that sank to the ground is the main danger of such a tornado. The photo of this option can easily be confused with a thunderstorm low cloud, but its power is enough to destroy the house and raise the car.
Most need to be wary of the compound. These are several small vortices that are united by one common funnel. In appearance, they are similar to scavengers, but they pose a serious danger.
The shape of a tornado can resemble an hourglass, cascade, glass, etc.
Where to go in search of a tornado
A win-win place is the lowlands between the Appalachians and the Rockies. This is the territory of the modern states of Missouri, Illinois, Oklahoma, Kansas and others located in this strip. If there is not much time, then you should immediately go to Texas, since there, due to its geographical location, the elements are most often rampant.
Many tornadoes in the USA hit several states at once, so you can only imagine the destructive power of such a tornado.
Disasters such as Indiana and Florida do not go unnoticed. They are less likely to encounter strong whirlwinds, but they are increasingly visiting this area than other places in the world.
In any case, before setting off in pursuit of this natural phenomenon, you should carefully prepare for the rampage of the tornado. Photos should not cost a life.
Some statistics
Hundreds of people become victims of deadly tornadoes every year. Among all the features of a hurricane, the greatest danger is the strength and unpredictability of the funnel. There are no laws, except chaos, according to which one could predict the trajectory of movement.
The speed of the tornado is simply stunning. Sometimes the vortex wind can overcome more than 400 kilometers in one hour on the surface, in the heart - from 20 meters per second and even up to 1300 kilometers per hour. Such a tornado can take down from the face of the earth not only small private houses, but also brick buildings of a decent size.
Walking away from a tornado pillar is unrealistic. Firstly, the speed of movement on the surface varies from 30 km / h to 70. The diameter of the vortex may exceed 300 meters. Plus unpredictability of movement.
Official studies made it possible to create a scale for assessing the destructive force of a vortex - Fujita. According to her testimony, 5 degrees of tornado intensity are distinguished.
Scary tornadoes of the first half of the last century
Officially, the records of the appearance of tornadoes, their power, and the territory of the movement began to be kept in America only in 1950. However, before this, one can also find data on the largest vortices.
The earliest documented mention is of the Mattoon tornado in the USA, which swept over the country on May 26, 1917. Then the elements claimed hundreds of lives.
Perhaps the most famous is the tornado, which went through three states - Illinois, Indiana and Missouri. It was a blurry hurricane with a radius of over one and a half kilometers. The Fujita scale did not yet exist, but modern scientists are confident that the strength of the storm can be estimated no lower than F5, and this is the highest degree of danger. Then the number of deaths reached almost 700, and the number of survivors, but injured people - about 2000.
The legendary tornado of the century before last
In May 1840, the state of Mississippi trembled from the strongest tornado that was raging in the city of Natchez. This is the first and so far the only tornado in which the number of deaths exceeded the number of victims.
This paradox is explained by the unexpectedness and unprecedented power of the funnel. In addition, official data do not represent a reliable picture. The height of the trade in black slaves and their merciless exploitation led to the fact that no one considered the work force anymore.
Modern scientists estimate the strength of a hurricane at 5 points.
The loss caused by the tornado, at that time amounted to more than a million dollars. The sum for those times is almost cosmic.
The most expensive tornado
Another tragedy brought in the tornado of 1986, which destroyed everything in St. Louis, Missouri. Then he claimed the lives of 255 people (this is only official statistics). However, it is not possible to calculate the exact number of victims, since many bodies were simply washed away into the river. And only some of them were later discovered.
For help, more than 1000 people then turned to doctors. More than 9, 000 buildings remained destroyed or partially damaged.
The total cost of loss in terms of today's exchange rate is more than $ 3 billion. Approximately as much money was required for the reconstruction of the city of Joplin in 2011 after a similar tornado.
But even such a monster is not the most powerful. His mark is F4.
Sudden tornadoes that prevented playing
As you know, the element does not tolerate and does not reckon with a person. This was once again confirmed by the whirlwind of 2012, which went around the United States during the Open Tennis Tournament. One of America’s most prestigious competitions was in jeopardy due to a raging tornado in New York. Eyewitnesses say that the noise from the funnel resembled an approaching train. Fortunately, this vortex did not lead to the death of people.
At the same time, a surfing competition was held on the coast, which also had to be hastily interrupted.
Tornado Alert
Zones of increased tornado activity are the USA and Australia. The hurricane season begins in June and ends in December. And the peak takes place from August to October. The funnels that arise in this area can reach a couple of kilometers, and this is enough to wipe a small town or village off the face of the earth.
That is why to predict the appearance of a tornado in this territory is not just important, but vital.
It is noteworthy that even houses on the line of special riots of the elements are built according to a special plan - each of them should have a basement anti-torment room, strong and resistant to the effects of water and fire, so that the inhabitants of the house can quickly and reliably hide.
A vortex reporting system has also been established. In such places there are special sirens that warn residents about their appearance. But to inform about the approach of danger today is possible no earlier than 15 minutes.
