Atmospheric Hazard: Tornadoes

1. Tornadoes in Miami, Florida (Recently, also including

some signicant tornadoes that happened in the past)

Caption: Tornado is a type of atmospheric hazard that has the most

destructive power in a short amount of time compared to
thunderstorm and hurricane. According to WunderMap, a single
tornado can destroy many large buildings and concrete foundations,
and it can also lift a 20-ton railroad car out of its track. In this map,
it shows that there is many tornadoes that happened in Miami,
Florida from the mid-20th century to the 21st century, in which the
level of tornado intensity ranged from F0-F3 (Fujita scale). The F0F1 tornadoes are considered as the weak ones, while the F2-F3 are
the strong and significant ones that could tear off roofs and walls
from houses, overturn cars and trains, uproot trees, and even lift
heavy cars off the ground. Fortunately that Miami never
experienced the F4 and F5 tornadoes, which are the most intensive
and violent tornadoes. These two scaled tornadoes win speed could
go up to 318 mph, and it can destroy all of the buildings and trees
along its path.

2. Tornadoes in Florida (Recently)

Caption: As we take a look in regional scale, there are many tornadoes that happened in Florida
and other nearby states. The tornadoes did not follow any pattern, they just appeared everywhere
in the region; however, it seems like there are more tornadoes occurred near the ocean than
inside the land. According to WunderMap, tornadoes are caused by three different types of air
that are coming together in a certain way. The first type of air is a warm and humid air along with
strong south winds from the ground. The second is a colder air and strong west or southwest
winds that comes from the upper atmosphere. The third is a hot dry air that was created between
a warm moist air at low levels and a cool dry air. These three types of airs come together have
made the air become unstable, also known as instability; alongside with thunderstorm, they have
formed tornadoes.

3. Tornadoes in the U.S. (Recently)

Caption: As we look in the global scale, tornadoes are mostly founded in the Eastern region of
the U.S., which seemed like the main causes of tornadoes are the air and wind from the Atlantic
Ocean, the Gulf of Mexico, the Rocky Mountains, and the slopes that goes from west to east.
Due to numerous amount of tornadoes that appeared in these regions, the best solution to be safe
is to get the tornado watch and spotter, which are the tools that tell the people which area the
tornado and thunderstorm will occur. Moreover, the media such as the Internet, television, and
radio also play an important role in letting the people know in order to stay away from that
dangerous area. Fortunately that in the 21st century, especially in 2015, there isnt any tornadoes
that could reach the scale of F4 or F5, except the tornado that struck Joplin, Missouri on May 22,
2011 in which the wind speed goes up to 200 mph and killed 158 people. Throughout the history
of U.S., F4 and F5 scaled tornadoes had been occurred a lot between the 19th century and 20th
century. As of today, the strongest tornado on record is the Tri-State Tornado that occurred on
March 18, 1925, which has the wind speed of 260+ mph, it was traveling more than 300 miles
across the states of Missouri, Illinois, and Indiana and killed 695 people and injured 2,027 others.

Works Cited
WunderMap. Wunderground.com. Web. 30 January 2016.
<http://www.wunderground.com/wundermap/%20>
About Tornadoes. WunderMap. Wunderground.com. Web. 31 January 2016.
<http://www.wunderground.com/resources/education/tornadoFAQ.asp?>
The 10 deadliest U.S. tornadoes on record. CNN. CNN.com, 27 April 2014. Web. 31 January
2016.
<http://www.cnn.com/2013/01/30/us/deadliest-tornadoes/>