Portal:Tornadoes

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.

Selected tornado article -

On December 18–20, 1957, a significant tornado outbreak sequence affected the southern Midwest and the South of the contiguous United States. The outbreak sequence began on the afternoon of December 18, when a low-pressure area approached the southern portions of Missouri and Illinois. Supercells developed and proceeded eastward at horizontal speeds of 40 to 45 miles per hour (64 to 72 km/h), yielding what was considered the most severe tornado outbreak in Illinois on record so late in the calendar year. Total losses in the state were estimated to fall within the range of $8–$10 million. (Full article...)

Selected tornado list -

This page documents all tornadoes confirmed by various weather forecast offices of the National Weather Service in the United States throughout May 2017. (Full article...)

Selected image -

Damage from the 1974 Xenia tornado

Selected tornado year -

(Full article...)

Related portals

• 
  Science
• 
  Earth sciences
• 
  Weather
• 
  Oceans
• 
  Tsunamis
• 
  Energy
• 
  Physics
• 
  World
• 
  Tropical cyclones

Recent tornado outbreaks

Recent tornado outbreaks

February

• February 3

Five tornadoes touch down in Alabama. One EF2 tornado impacts Sawyerville, Alabama, killing one person, marking the first tornadic death of the year.

March

• March 5–7

A tornado outbreak impacted parts of the central and southern United States with the worst impacts in Iowa. A long-track EF4 tornado, the fist violent tornado of the year, killed six people near Winterset, Iowa and an EF3 tornado killed one person near Chariton.

Previous months: December, January

Tornado anniversaries

March 10

• 1876 – Several strong tornadoes struck the Midwestern United States. An F3 tornado destroyed much of Hazel Green, Wisconsin, killing 9 people and injuring 50. Homes were "ground finer than grist from the mills of the Gods" and debris was carried up to 8 mi (13 km). An F4 tornado killed 14 people across Monroe, Ralls, and Marion counties, Missouri.
• 1973 – A tornado outbreak affected parts of the Southern United States with the worst damage in Texas. An F4 tornado destroyed much of Hubbard, Texas, killing 6 people and injuring 77. An F3 tornado damaged or destroyed about 200 buildings in Burnet, Texas, injuring 40 people.

March 11

• 1917 – An F4 tornado damaged or destroyed 350 buildings on the south side of New Castle, Indiana, killing 24 people in all and injuring 110. An F3 tornado killed three people in Cincinnati.
• 1923 – An F5 tornado completely swept away about a quarter of Pinson, Tennessee, killing 20 people and injuring 70. Bodies and body parts were carried for up to a mile.

March 12

• 2006 – Fifty-five tornadoes touched down across the Midwestern United States as part of a larger outbreak sequence, killing eight people. An F3 tornado killed four people and injured 26 near Renick, Missouri, including 13 people on a bus that it overturned. An F2 tornado injured 13 people near Fordland, Missouri, including one man who was carried 1,307 ft (398 m), the greatest distance that a person has been carried by a tornado and survived.

Did you know…

• ...that the 2013 Moore tornado that struck Moore and Newcastle, Oklahoma, is the most recent EF5 tornado?
• ...that the 2021 South Moravia tornado, an EF4 tornado with winds between 207–260 mph (333–418 km/h), was the strongest tornado to hit the Czech Republic in modern history?

General images -

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

• 

  Widespread devastation in a residential area of Dawson Springs. (from 2021 Western Kentucky tornado)

• 

  Radar collage of a supercell that spawned a tornado family during the outbreak (from Tornado outbreak of December 10–11, 2021)

• 

  Trees that were completely debarked and denuded near Buckeye, Arkansas. (from Tornado outbreak of December 10–11, 2021)

• 

  High-end EF3 damage to homes in the Creekwood subdivision in Bowling Green, Kentucky. Numerous fatalities occurred in this area. (from Tornado outbreak of December 10–11, 2021)

• 

  Major structural damage to a house near Hartford. (from 2021 Western Kentucky tornado)

• 

  Derecho moving across eastern Nebraska and western Iowa (from December 2021 Midwest derecho and tornado outbreak)

• 

  Aerial view of EF4 damage in Mayfield, Kentucky, on December 12, one of several towns impacted by the tornado.

• 

  A satellite view of the extratropical cyclone that was responsible for the tornado outbreak on December 11. (from Tornado outbreak of December 10–11, 2021)

• 

  A multi-ton freight car that was thrown from the tracks in Barnsley. (from 2021 Western Kentucky tornado)

• 

  EF3 damage to businesses in downtown Dresden, Tennessee. (from Tornado outbreak of December 10–11, 2021)

• 

  Radar 3D volume scan of the supercell showing debris lofted over 30,000 feet (9.1 km) in the air as the tornado struck Mayfield. (from 2021 Western Kentucky tornado)

• 

  Map of tornado warnings and confirmed tornadoes from the outbreak (from Tornado outbreak of December 10–11, 2021)

• 

  A liquor store that was destroyed in the western part of Bowling Green, Kentucky. (from Tornado outbreak of December 10–11, 2021)

• 

  Debris and destroyed homes along Alexander Street in Dawson Springs. (from 2021 Western Kentucky tornado)

Featured Article or List -

This is either a featured article or featured list, which represents some of the best articles on English Wikipedia.

---

Hailstones dropped during the storm, compared to a cricket ball (7 cm or 2.8 in diameter)

The 1999 Sydney hailstorm was the costliest natural disaster in Australian insurance history, causing extensive damage along the east coast of New South Wales. The storm developed south of Sydney on the afternoon of Wednesday, 14 April 1999 and struck the city's eastern suburbs, including the central business district, later that evening.

The storm dropped an estimated 500,000 tonnes of hailstones in its path. Insured damages caused by the storm were over A$1.7 billion, with the total damage bill (including uninsured damages) estimated to be around A$2.3 billion. It was the costliest in Australian history in insured damages, surpassing the A$1.1 billion in insured damages caused by the 1989 Newcastle earthquake. Lightning also claimed one life during the storm, and the event caused approximately 50 injuries. (Full article...)

List of Featured articles and lists
Hurricane Katrina tornado outbreak List of Connecticut tornadoes List of tornadoes in the 1999 Oklahoma tornado outbreak 2006 Westchester County tornado

Topics

Subcategories

Select [►] to view subcategories

Tornadoes

Tornadoes in Europe

Tornadoes by country

Tornadoes by year

Deaths in tornadoes

Tornado outbreaks

Tornado-related lists

Works about tornadoes

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 Wikipdia'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!

Things you can do

Here are some tasks awaiting attention: Article requests : WikiProject Weather article requests Expand : Severe weather Stubs : Expand Thunderstorm and tornado stub articles

Wikimedia

Portals

Activities Culture Geography Health History Mathematics Nature People Philosophy Religion Society Technology Random portal