Chapter 19: Tornadoes

 Tornadoes formation in supercell thunderstorms

 Tornadoes formation in non-supercell thunderstorms
 Tornadoes
 Tornadoes are violently rotating columns of air that extend
from a thunderstorm cloud to the ground.
 On average, over 1,000 tornadoes are reported in the US each
year.
 Tornadoes primarily develop within supercell thunderstorms,
but also form in thunderstorms along squall lines, near the ends
of thunderstorm bow echoes, and within landfall hurricane.
 Most tornados are short lived.
 Life Cycle of Long-lived
Funnel cloud:
Tornadoes Mature stage: at its
emerging from the peak intensity and
wall cloud largest size

Dust swirl stage: Shrinking stage:

tornadoes make vortex tilts over
contact with the more; rope-like
ground appearance

Organizing stage: Decay stage

funnel cloud
descends to the
ground and
intensify
 Tilting

 Supercell thunderstorms rotate about a vertical axis as a result of

tiling.
 Vertical shear associated with the storm produce a rotation tube,
whose rotation axis is in parallel to the ground.
 Warm airs within the tube is drawn into the thunderstorm updraft,
which at the same time “tilt” the rotation axis vertical.
Location of Tornado within Supercell
Thunderstorm
 The rotating updraft that
produces the “tilting” is
within the mesocyclone of
supercell thunderstorms.
 Tornadogenesis

 Tornadogenesis: the formation of tornadoes, whose detail

processes are not clear due to limited observations.

 Tornadogenesis appears to occur in one of three ways: (1) top

down process (a dynamic pipe effect), (2) bottom up process,
and (3) vortex breakdown.
 Top-Down Process / Dynamic Pipe Effect

• With this process, tornadoes descend from midlevels within the thunderstorm and
then emerge from the base of the wall cloud.
• A narrowly constricted flow in the middle atmosphere that might develop when the
mid-level mesocyclone is stretched.
• Air entering this narrow “pipe” from below must itself constrict as it approaches the
entry point.
• That constriction in effect lowers the “pipe”, and the constriction grows downward.
• When the constricted “pipe” reaches the ground, tornadoes touchdown occur.
 Bottom-Up Process
• This process is believed to occur as a
result of tilting of the horizontal
circulation along the forward frank gust
front as it moves under the ascending
updraft.
• Air behind the gust front is cool,
negatively buoyant, and descending. In
the updraft air adjacent to the gust front,
air is warm, positively buoyant, and
ascending.
• This leads to a sense of rotation along the
interface between the gust front and
warm air.

• If this region advances under the strong updraft of the mid-level mesocyclone, it
can be tilted to the vertical, leading to rapid rotation very close to earth’s surface.
• With further vortex stretching, the rotation can spin up to become a ‘bottom up”
tornado.
Vortex Breakdown
• Most tornadoes remain as a narrow column of
rising rotation air, but vortex breakdown can
occur in some tornadoes, which can cause the
tornado to expand to a very large size.
• AB: the tornado vortex transforms from a
rotating updraft to a structure with a
downdraft at its core.
• BC: updraft displaced to the outside of the
central downdraft.
• CD: when the central downdraft reaches the
ground, strong wind shear between the
downdraft and updraft areas lead to the
formation of smaller vortices, called suction
vortices.
• The strongest winds in tornadoes occur in
suction vortices (can be 290mph).
 Decay of a Tornado
• A tornado may be on the ground for a
few minutes to as long as an hour.
• The typical tornado life cycle concludes
as the rear flank downdraft wraps
completely around the tornado
circulation.
• In this process, cool, denser air encircles
the tornado, eventually weakening and
finally eliminating the tornado’s
circulation.
• As a supercell moves, typically northeastward, the upper part of the updraft
that contains the tornado is tilted downstream by the mid-level winds relative
to the lower part of the tornado.
• As this occurs, the tornado is stretched into a narrow vortex with a rope-like
shape.
• Without an updraft to sustain, the tornado spins down.
 3D View of Supercell

(B) Full formation of both forward and rear downdrafts.

(C) The mature super with a strong rotating updraft and tornado (red) located at the coupling of
the updraft and rear flank downdraft.
(D) The decaying supercell storm – the rear flank downdraft wrapping around the updraft and
cutting off the supply of warm, moist air. A new updraft is forming to the southeast of the
previous updraft.
Tornado Family
• A tornado supercell may pass
through the sequene of growing
dying a few times in its lifetime.
•Each cycle is associated with a new
updraft that forms just outside and
southeast of the previous cell that
produced the earlier tornado.
•The tornadoes emerging from the
supercell over its lifetime constitutes
a tornado family.
Example of a Tornado Family
• A supercell thunderstorm
produced eight tornadoes within
five hours when it moved over
Illinois and Indian on 3 April
1974.
• The local time that the
mesocyclone (the gray line)
passed an area is noted along the
track.
Tornadoes Formed within Non-Supercell Thunderstorms

• Tornadoes sometimes develop within squall line thunderstorm

aligned along fronts or along outflows from mesoscale convective
systems (MCS).
• These tornadoes are called non-supercell tornadoes, landspout
tornadoes, mesovortices, or gustnadoes.
• These tornadoes are generally short-lived and not as intense as their
supercell tornado counterparts.
Formation Mechanism for Non-Supercell Tornadoes
A: Some fronts are characterized by a
very sharp change in wind speed
and direction on either side of the
front.
B: This strong horizontal wind shear
can develop a series of small
vortices along the front.
C: When the vortices develop under
an updraft, the updraft stretches
the vortex into a tighter and tighter
circulation until a non-supercell
tornado forms.
• Nearly all tornadoes in California
in wintertime develop along cold
fronts by this process.
 Waterspout Tornadoes

• Waterspouts are a class of weak tornadoes that are commonly

observed off coastlines, particularly in tropical regions such as the
Florida Coast and the Gulf of Mexico.
• The formation mechanism of waterspouts is still not well known.
 Tornado Alley
• This figure shows the annual
number of tornadoes observed
per 10,000 square miles in
each of the fifty states during
1953-2004.
• The red states have more than
5 tornadoes annually.
• Florida has the highest
numbers.
• Beside the Gulf states, tornadoes occur most frequently over the Great
Plains and Midwestern states.
• These states are oriented along a southwest-northeast line called
Tornado Alley.
EF-Scale Wind Speed Ranges and corresponding wind speeds from the Fujita scale

Fujita 3-second gust speed Operational 3 Second Gust Speed

Scale (mph) Enhanced Fujita (mph)
Scale

F0 45-78 EF0 65-85

F1 79-117 EF1 86-110

F2 118-161 EF2 111-135

F3 162-209 EF3 136-165

F4 210-261 EF4 166-200

F5 262-317 EF5 > 200

 Damage Indicators for establishing EF-Scale ratings
For the structures listed below, damage assessors use detailed tables that describe the degree of damage, together with example
photographs from damaged structures to establish the likely wind speed and EF scale rating for a tornado

No. Damage Indicator No. Damage Indicator

1 Small Barns or Farm Outbuildings 19 High-Rise Building (> 20 stories)
2 One or Two Family Residences 20 Institutional Building
3 Manufactured Home – Single Wide 21 Metal Building System
4 Manufactured Home – Double Wide 22 Service Station Canopy
5 Apartments, Condos, Townhouses 23 Warehouse Building
6 Motel 24 Electrical Transmission Lines
7 Masonry Apartment or Motel 25 Free Standing Towers
8 Small Retail Building 26 Free Standing Light Poles, Luminary Poles, Flag Poles
9 Small Professional Building 27 Trees (Hardwood)
10 Strip Mall 28 Trees (Softwood)
11 Large Shopping Mall
12 Large Isolated Retail Building
13 Automobile Showroom
14 Automobile Service Building
15 Elementary School
16 Junior or Senior High School
17 Low-Rise Building (1-4 stories)
18 Mid-Rise Building (5-20 stories)
 Estimating the EF scale rating from damage to a one or two
family residence (Indicator 2 in Table 19.2)

Degree Damage Description EXPECTED LOWE HIGHEST

of WIND ST WIND
Damage SPEED WIND SPEED
SPEED
1 Threshold of visible damage 65 53 80
2 Loss of roof covering material (<20%), gutters and/or awning; loss of vinyl or 79 63 97
metal siding
3 Broken glass in doors and windows 96 79 114
4 Uplift of roof deck and loss of significant roof covering material (> 20%); 97 81 116
collapse of chimney, garage doors collapse inward, failure of porch or carport
5 Entire house shifts off foundation 121 103 141
6 Large sections of roof structure removed; most walls remain standing 122 104 142
7 Exterior walls collapsed 132 113 153
8 Most walls collapsed, except small interior rooms 152 127 178
9 All walls collapsed 170 142 198
10 Destruction of engineered and/or well constructed residence, slab swept clean 200 165 220
Figure 19 G
Figure 19 K