Portal:Tornadoes

Add links
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Portal topics
Activities
Culture
Geography
Health
History
Mathematics
Nature
People
Philosophy
Religion
Society
Technology
Random portal
edit 

The Tornadoes Portal

A tornado near Anadarko, Oklahoma, in 1999
Tornadoes are violently rotating columns of air that are in contact with the Earth and either a cumulonimbus or a cumulus cloud. Tornadoes are often referred to as twisters, whirlwinds, or cyclones. While most tornadoes attain winds of less than 110 miles per hour (180 km/h), are about 250 feet (80 m) across, and travel a few miles (several kilometers), the wind speeds in the most intense tornadoes can reach 300 miles per hour (480 km/h), are more than two miles (3 km) in diameter, and stay on the ground for dozens of miles (more than 100 km). Various types of tornadoes include the multiple vortex tornado, landspout, and waterspout. Other tornado-like phenomena that exist in nature include the gustnado, dust devil, fire whirl, and steam devil. Most tornadoes occur in North America (in the United States and Canada), concentrated in a region nicknamed the Tornado Alley. Tornadoes also occur in South America, South Africa, Europe, Asia, and Oceania.
Read more

Selected tornado article - show another

Tornado damage, Union Depot, Jefferson and Allen Avenues, St. Louis, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration photograph by J. C. Strauss, May 27, 1896
The 1896 St. Louis–East St. Louis tornado (great cyclone) was a historic tornado that caused severe damage to downtown St. Louis, Missouri, East St. Louis, Illinois, and surrounding areas on Wednesday, May 27, 1896, at around 5:00 pm. One of the deadliest and most destructive tornadoes in U.S. history, this tornado was the most notable of a major tornado outbreak across the central United States which produced several other large, long-track, violent tornadoes and continued across the eastern United States the following day. The St. Louis tornado killed at least 255 people, injured over a thousand others, and caused more than $10 million in damage (equivalent to $366 million in 2023) in about 20 minutes. More than 5,000 people were left homeless and lost all of their possessions. The hardest-hit areas of the city were the fashionable Lafayette Square and Compton Heights neighborhoods, as well as the poorer Mill Creek Valley. It remains the third-deadliest tornado in United States history. (Full article...)
List of selected tornado articles

Selected tornado list - show another

From January to March 2017, various weather forecast offices of the National Weather Service confirmed at least 399 tornadoes across the United States, activity well beyond climatological norms. Based on the 1991–2010 average, the first month of the year is expected to see 35 tornadoes, with 29 occurring in February and 80 forming throughout March. In 2017, however, the count for the first three months was 135, 70, and 194, respectively. Activity began with the development of an EF1 tornado north of Jasper, Texas at 15:03 UTC on January 2. The latest storm of the period was an EF1 that touched down southeast of Powellsville, North Carolina at 22:15 UTC on March 31. The strongest tornado, an EF4, carved a path of destruction from Perryville, Missouri to southwest of Christopher, Illinois. Meanwhile, the deadliest tornado of the period was of EF3 intensity that destroyed a mobile home park south of Adel, Georgia, killing 11 people.

The first month of the year featured the second-highest tornado count on record, surpassed only by 1999. A total of 135 tornadoes were confirmed, resultant from two major outbreaks that affected the United States on January 2 and from January 21–23. The latter event was the second-largest January outbreak on record (with 81 confirmed tornadoes), second to January 21–23, 1999, and the third-largest wintertime outbreak, excelled only by the aforementioned incident and the 2008 Super Tuesday tornado outbreak. In addition, the outbreak led to 42 tornadoes in the state of Georgia, upending the previous record of 25 set during 2004's Hurricane Ivan. Twenty people were killed from January 21–23, the second-highest count during a January event to the 1969 Hazlehurst, Mississippi tornado outbreak. February, meanwhile, featured 70 tornadoes, a count well below that of the preceding month's but still over twice the long-term average. An outbreak on the final day of February into the first day of March produced 72 tornadoes and 4 fatalities. On the back of that outbreak, an event of 63 tornadoes across similar areas a week later, and continued activity in the weeks following, March observed a total of 194 tornadoes. (Full article...)
List of selected tornado lists
edit 

Selected image - show another

An F2 tornado damaging Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, on July 6, 2001.
More selected images

Selected tornado year - show another

Hesston, Kansas F5 tornado
This page documents the tornadoes and tornado outbreaks of 1990, primarily in the United States. Most tornadoes form in the U.S., although some events may take place internationally. Tornado statistics for older years like this often appear significantly lower than modern years due to fewer reports or confirmed tornadoes, however by the 1990s tornado statistics were coming closer to the numbers we see today. (Full article...)
List of tornadoes by year
edit 

Related portals

edit 

2024 tornado activity

A destroyed structure in Gallia County, Ohio on April 2
From April 1 to 3, 2024, a significant tornado outbreak, which also included a derecho, affected much of the Midwestern and Southeastern United States. The National Weather Service issued dozens of severe thunderstorm and tornado warnings across West Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, Ohio, Oklahoma, Kansas Illinois, Indiana, and Missouri during the event. A total of 32 million people were estimated to be under watches or warnings, and over 150,000 people were estimated to be without power. and 15 people were injured. The event was given an outbreak intensity score of 28 points, ranking it as a significant tornado outbreak, and five people were killed by non-tornadic events as well. (Full article...)
edit 

Tornado anniversaries

May 22

  • 1987 – A short-lived but devastating F4 tornado destroyed 85% of Saragosa, Texas, killing 30 people, including 22 in building where a Head Start graduation was about to take place. Many of the dead were parents or grandparents who died shielding the children from debris.
  • 2004 – An F4 tornado caused major damage in and near Wilber and Hallam, Nebraska, killing one person and injuring 28. At one point the tornado was 2.5 miles (4.0 km) wide, making it, at the time, the widest tornado ever recorded. This record was later surpassed by the 2.6-mile (4.2 km)-wide 2013 El Reno tornado.
  • 2011 – A catastrophic EF5 tornado devastated the southern portions of Joplin, Missouri, killing 158 people and injuring 1,150. It was the deadliest tornado to hit the United States since 1947 and the costliest in U.S. history with $2.8 billion in damage.

May 23

May 24

  • 1973 – A highly-visible F4 tornado hit Union City, Oklahoma, killing two people. This was one of the intensely studied tornadoes in scientific history. For the first time, Doppler weather radar detected the circulation of the tornado before it touched down, a significant advancement in tornado forecasting. This was also the first time that scientists had documented the entire life cycle of a tornado in detail.
  • 2011 – An extremely intense EF5 tornado passed near El Reno and Piedmont, Oklahoma, killing nine people and injuring 181. Mobile Doppler radar recorded wind speeds of up to 295 miles per hour (475 km/h). A tanker truck was thrown a mile (1.6 km) and a 1.9-million-pound (860,000 kg) oil rig was rolled three times. Two high-end EF4 tornadoes passed near Blanchard and Washington, Oklahoma. The Blanchard tornado may also have reached EF5 intensity.
edit 

Did you know…

Did you know archive

General images - load new batch

The following are images from various tornado-related articles on Wikipedia.

Featured Article or List - show another

This is either a featured article or featured list, which represents some of the best articles on English Wikipedia.
The California Closets Warehouse that was severely damaged by the tornado

The 2006 Westchester County tornado was the strongest and largest tornado in Westchester County, New York since the 1904 Chappaqua tornado. It touched down there on Wednesday, July 12, 2006, and traveled 13 miles (21 km) into southwestern Connecticut during a 33-minute span through two states. The tornado touched down at 3:30 p.m. EDT (19:30 UTC) on the shore of the Hudson River before becoming a waterspout and traveling 3 mi (5 km) across the river. Coming ashore, the tornado entered Westchester County and struck the town of Sleepy Hollow at F1 intensity. After passing through the town, it intensified into an F2 tornado and grew to almost a one-quarter mile (400 m) in diameter. The tornado continued through the county, damaging numerous structures, until it crossed into Connecticut at 4:01 p.m. EDT (20:01 UTC). Not long after entering the state, it dissipated in the town of Greenwich at 4:03 p.m. EDT (20:03 UTC). When the tornado entered Westchester County, it was the eighth known tornado to either touch down or enter the county since 1950.

Two barns and a warehouse were destroyed, and a large stained-glass window was shattered. Numerous homes and businesses were damaged and thousands of trees were uprooted. There were no fatalities and only six minor injuries were associated with the storm. The cost of damages was estimated at $12.1 million. (Full article...)

Topics

edit 

Subcategories

Category puzzle
Category puzzle
Select [►] to view subcategories
Tornadoes
Tornadoes by continent
Tornadoes by country
Tornadoes by year
19th-century tornadoes
20th-century tornadoes
Buildings and structures destroyed by tornado
Deaths in tornadoes
Satellite tornadoes
Tornado outbreaks
Tornado-related lists
Works about tornadoes
edit 

Related WikiProjects

The scope of WikiProject Severe weather is to write articles about severe weather, namely thunderstorms and tornadoes. Their talk page is located here.

WikiProject Weather is the main hub for all articles that are weather-related. WikiProject Weather strives to improve articles in a variety of weather topics, including Tropical Cyclones, Severe Weather, General meteorology, Non-tropical Storms, Climate, Floods, Droughts and wildfires, Meteorological instruments and data, Meteorological Biographies, and Space Weather. If you would like to help, please visit the project talk page.

WikiProject Meteorology is a collaborative effort by dozens of Wikipedians to improve the quality of meteorology- and weather-related articles. If you would like to help, visit the project talk page, and see what needs doing. The project is currently being merged into WikiProject Weather.

WikiProject Tropical cyclones is a daughter project of WikiProject meteorology. The dozens of semi-active members and several full-time members focus on improving Wikipedia's coverage of tropical cyclones.

Wikipedia is a fully collaborative effort by volunteers. So if you see something you think you can improve, be bold and get to editing! We appreciate any help you can provide!

edit 

Things you can do

Wikimedia

The following Wikimedia Foundation sister projects provide more on this subject:

Discover Wikipedia using portals
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Portal:Tornadoes&oldid=1223133949"