© 2012 Wilson County Weather Operations

A tornado is a violent, whirling windstorm that crosses land in a narrow path and can result from wind shears inside a thunderhead.

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Warm air colliding with moist air cause tornadoes

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Tornadoes can last from several seconds to more than an hour

http://sema.dps.mo.gov/plan_and_prepare/tornadoes.asp

Tornadoes are very dangerous to people because of how violent they are. Their speed is usually around 300 mph. They suck up everything in its path.

Tornadoes most commonly happen during spring and early summer.

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They can rip apart houses, throw things above the clouds, and do anything nearly destructive. I can cost around one billion dollars in repair.

http://tornado-facts.com/

The most powerful Tornadoes occur in the United States. A typical tornado only lasts for a few minutes.

Every tornado has its own color, sound and shape. You need to step on the pedal of a car pass 70 miles per hour to outrun the fastest

tornadoes. The chances that a tornado is a F5, the highest classification for a tornado on the F-

scale, is less than 0.1% Tornadoes have been reported in every state in the US and also in every season.

A Tornado can occur at any time, but most often between 3pm and 9pm. An F5 is a Strong frame houses lifted off foundations and carried considerable

distances to disintegrate; automobile sized missiles fly through the air in excess of 100 meters; trees debarked; steel re-in forced concrete structures badly damaged.

An F1is The lower limit is the beginning of hurricane wind speed; peels surface off roofs; mobile homes pushed off foundations or overturned; moving autos pushed off

the roads; attached garages may be destroyed.

"Tornado Alley" is a region with the most common tornadoes, just east of the Rockies. The city with the most recorded tornadoes is Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, which also had the strongest winds ever measured, over over 316 MPH, during the tornado of May 3, 1999. That tornado also holds the record for the most costly damage - over one billion dollars! But because of good weather forecasting, only 36 people were killed.