A tornado is a whirlwind wind. The term is often used as a synonym for hurricane, although this concept refers to the tropical cyclone that is characterized by circulation around a low pressure center with strong winds and abundant rain.
The tornado is a violent rotating column of moving air. This formation is simultaneously in contact with a cloud and with the earth, and can reach a speed of more than 480 kilometers per hour, with an extension of more than 1.5 kilometers.
Among the most significant characteristics that can define a tornado are the one that usually takes the shape of a funnel, which has the peculiarity that they can be obscured by clouds of dust or smoke and that they can appear in a great variety of colors, they can even be transparent.
The weakest tornadoes cause damage to trees and little else. The strongest tornadoes, on the other hand, are in a position to tear homes off the ground. Tornadoes have been recorded on every continent, with the exception of Antarctica. The area where tornadoes occur most frequently is in the United States and is known as Tornado Alley (between the Rocky Mountains and the Appalachian Mountains).
Many are the tornadoes that have left their unfortunate mark throughout history. However, among the strongest and most dangerous is, for example, the Tri-State Tornado that took place on March 18, 1925. In the United States, and specifically in the area between Missouri and Indiana, there was one that has It has gone down in history as the one that has traveled the longest distance, almost 325 kilometers, and also as the longest lasting, since it remained active for more than three hours.
In the same way, this tornado is known to be the one that has broken all records in terms of what would be the speed of travel. Specifically 117 kilometers per hour.
Another of the most forceful and damaging tornadoes that have taken place over the centuries was the one that occurred in 1989, specifically on April 26, in Bangladesh. Daultipur-Salturia was the name that was given to the one that is listed as the one that has so far caused the most fatalities and is that some 1,300 people died as a result of that.
The Great Bend (Kansas) tornado that occurred in 1915 also ranks, along with the previous ones, among the worst of all that have occurred.
Different stages can be distinguished in the formation of a tornado. The initial eddy is the descending column of cold air that precedes a cloud and that gives rise to another eddy, but of hot air. The funnel is the inverted cone that appears when moisture in the hot air column condenses.
There is a phenomenon similar to a tornado that occurs on water. It is about the water hose or waterspout, characterized by a wind current that moves in a spiral and joins the clouds.