Dr. Weather

A Junior Meteorologist WebQuest

Would you like to know more about tornadoes? Questions like how they are formed, where they occur, and what some average speeds of tornadoes will be answered here. Have fun!

The average speed of a tornado is more than 200 hundred miles per hour! That is about 100 miles faster than most cars! The speed around the middle is slower, around 100 miles per hour. Some tornadoes can even reach wind speeds of 300 miles an hour. That `s fast, even for a tornado!

Tornadoes are made by

Cool air and warm, humid air mixing together and rising rapidly into the air, gaining more warm air to replace it, form tornadoes. The air then may begin to rotate, causing a tornado. The air will rotate faster and faster becoming a violent windstorm. Tornadoes usually occur on a humid day in spring. Most tornadoes are formed in the area known as the Great Plains.

This is the average

range of a tornado.

Most of the range is

in the southern and

eastern parts of the

U.S. There are mostly

active warnings, but

much less active

specials.

The north and

western

regions do not have

tornado warnings.

New Mexico is the

only southern state

that does not have

tornado warnings.

The lower part of

the plains has the

most tornadoes

per year. They have

more than 200

tornadoes every year!

The damage a tornado

can cause is huge!

They can crush

almost anything

in their path. Here

are the records

of the deadliest

tornadoes in the

U.S. The third deadliest

tornado happened

on May 27 1896. The

location was Missouri,

and Illinois. It killed

255 people, and injured

1000 more. The second

deadliest tornado to

occur happened on May

7, 1840 in Louisiana,

and Mississippi. It

killed 317 people

and hurt 109 more.

The deadliest tornado

was on March 18 1925.

It swept through Illinois, Missouri, and Indiana,

killing 689 people, and

2,027 got hurt.

Bibliography

Visit these sites for more information

http://www.wildwildweather.com/twisters.htm

http://www.fema.gov/kids/tornado.htm

Nina and Kaitlyn 4-16-03