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Cause And Effect Of Tornados

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To form a tornado the atmosphere needs to create an “instability.” The air closest to the ground will be warm, humid, and have south facing winds. In the upper atmosphere, the air will be cold with west or southwest facing winds. These two components in the upper and lower atmosphere together create the atmospheric instability. Another key component to form a tornado is wind shear. Wind shear is the change in wind speed and direction of wind while the warmer and cooler air are chasing each other around in the circle, creating the height of the tornado. (“Prepare for a Tornado,” 2017) Although tornados have been recorded in every continent except for Antarctica most are found in central United States better known as “tornado alley” a stretch of land from the western part of Texas to North Dakota. On average, there are two thousand tornadoes annually, but two out of three of those tornadoes happen in the United States. The states with the most tornados on average are Texas, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Florida. Tornadoes form in the central part of the United States most commonly because of the reoccurring atmospheric instability from the dry polar air that meets the warm moist air from the Gulf of Mexico. (Prepare for a Tornado,” 2017) A storm capable of producing a tornado can occur at any time but most often they occur in the spring and summer, June and May have the highest number of tornados recorded. Tornadoes can happen at any time of the day but most often occur between the

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