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The smallest but most violent of all known storms is the tornado. It seems to be a typically American storm, being most frequent and violent in the United States, although occurring in Australia in substantial numbers and reported occasionally in other places in middle latitudes. Tornadoes are also known throughout tropical and subtropical regions of the globe.
The tornado is a small, intense cyclone in which the air is spiraling at tremendous velocity. It appears as a dark funnel cloud, hanging from a large cumulonimbus cloud. At its' lower end the funnel may be from 300 to 1500 ft (90 to 460 m) in diameter. The funnel appears dark because of the density of condensing moisture, dust, and debris swept up by the wind.
Wind speeds in a tornado exceed anything known in other storms. Estimates of wind speed run to as high as 500 mi (800 km) per hour. There is, in addition, a violent updraft in the funnel.
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As the tornado moves across the country the funnel writhes and twists. The end of the funnel cloud may alternately sweep the ground, causing complete destruction of anything in its path, and rise in the air to leave the ground below unharmed. Tornado destruction occurs both from the great wind stress and from the sudden reduction of air pressure in the vortex of the cyclonic spiral. Closed houses literally explode. It is even reported that the corks will pop out of empty bottles, so great is the difference in air pressure.
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Tornadoes occur as parts of powerful cumulonimbus clouds in the squall line that travels in advance of a cold front. They seem to originate where turbulence is greatest. They are commonest in the spring and summer but occur in any month. Where maritime polar (MP) air lifts warm, moist tropical (MT) air on a cold front, conditions may become favorable for tornadoes. They occur in greatest numbers in the central and southeastern states and are rare over mountainous and forested regions. They are almost unknown from the Rocky Mountains westward and are relatively fewer on the eastern seaboard.
Devastation from a tornado is complete within the narrow limits of its path, but fortunately the storms are uncommon and the total danger small. Even in states having the most tornadoes, deaths from automobile and other accidents are a very much more serious danger. Storm cellars built completely below ground provide satisfactory protection if they can be reached in time. Although a tornado can often be seen or heard approaching, a cold front passing during the hours of darkness, as it often does, may present no warning.
Waterspouts are similar in structure to tornadoes but form at sea under cumulonimbus clouds. They are smaller and less powerful than tornadoes. Sea water may be lifted 10 ft (3 m) above the sea surface, and the spray is carried higher. Waterspouts are commonly found in subtropical waters of the Gulf of Mexico and off the southeastern coast of the United States and seem to result from air turbulence occurring when continental air masses spread out over these oceans.
