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Portal:Tornadoes

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The Tornadoes Portal

A tornado near Anadarko, Oklahoma, in 1999
Tornadoes are violently rotating columns of air that are in contact with the Earth and either a cumulonimbus or a cumulus cloud. Tornadoes are often referred to as twisters, whirlwinds, or cyclones. While most tornadoes attain winds of less than 110 miles per hour (180 km/h), are about 250 feet (80 m) across, and travel a few miles (several kilometers), the wind speeds in the most intense tornadoes can reach 300 miles per hour (480 km/h), are more than two miles (3 km) in diameter, and stay on the ground for dozens of miles (more than 100 km). Various types of tornadoes include the multiple vortex tornado, landspout, and waterspout. Other tornado-like phenomena that exist in nature include the gustnado, dust devil, fire whirl, and steam devil. Most tornadoes occur in North America (in the United States and Canada), concentrated in a region nicknamed the Tornado Alley. Tornadoes also occur in South America, South Africa, Europe, Asia, and Oceania.
A large wedge tornado in Will County, Illinois on June 7.
The tornado outbreak sequence of June 3–11, 2008 was a series of tornado outbreaks affecting most of central and eastern North America from June 3–11, 2008. 192 tornadoes were confirmed, along with widespread straight–line wind wind damage. Seven people were killed from a direct result of tornadoes; four in Iowa, two in Kansas, and one in Indiana. Eleven additional people were killed across five states by other weather events including lightning, flash flooding, and straight-line winds. Severe flooding was also reported in much of Indiana, Wisconsin, Minnesota and Iowa as a result of the same thunderstorms, while high heat and humidity affected much of eastern North America; particularly along the eastern seaboard of the United States from New York City to the Carolinas. (Full article...)
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This is a list of all tornadoes that were confirmed by the National Climatic Data Center in the United States from January to March 1982. During this period, 81 tornadoes touched down across 23 states, resulting in 7 fatalities and numerous injuries. The strongest of these storms was an F4 in the Texas and Oklahoma Panhandles on March 18. Activity greatly varied between the three months, with January being above average, February at record low levels and March around average. Aside from two notable outbreaks, tornado events were sporadic and scattered across the country. More than half of the 60 tornadoes in March occurred during a single outbreak from March 14 to 17. (Full article...)
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An F2 tornado damaging Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, on July 6, 2001.

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Tracks of all US tornadoes in 1986.
This page documents the tornadoes and tornado outbreaks of 1986, primarily in the United States. Most tornadoes form in the U.S., although some events may take place internationally. Tornado statistics for older years like this often appear significantly lower than modern years due to fewer reports or confirmed tornadoes. (Full article...)
List of tornadoes by year

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2024 tornado activity

A destroyed structure in Gallia County, Ohio on April 2
From April 1 to 3, 2024, a significant tornado outbreak, which also included a derecho, affected much of the Midwestern and Southeastern United States. The National Weather Service issued dozens of severe thunderstorm and tornado warnings across West Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, Ohio, Oklahoma, Kansas, Illinois, Indiana, and Missouri during the event. A total of 32 million people were estimated to be under watches or warnings, and over 150,000 people were estimated to be without power. and 15 people were injured. The event was given an outbreak intensity score of 28 points, ranking it as a significant tornado outbreak, and five people were killed by non-tornadic events as well. (Full article...)

Tornado anniversaries

June 6

  • 1974 – Scattered tornadoes touched down across the Midwestern and Southeastern United States. An F3 tornado damaged or destroyed 300 homes in Forrest City, Arkansas, killing four people and injuring 112.

June 7

  • 1947 – An F4 tornado passed south of Vienna, Ohio and through Sharon and Farrell, Pennsylvania, killing six people and injuring 340. About 150 buildings were destroyed, and many people were injured in the collapse of apartment buildings and factories.

June 8

  • 1953 – One of the deadliest single tornadoes in U.S. history, an F5 tornado devastated portions of Flint and Beecher, Michigan, killing 116 people and injuring 844. Homes were obliterated along a mile-long stretch of one road. This was the last single tornado in the United States to kill more than 100 people until the 2011 Joplin tornado.
  • 1966 – An F5 tornado tore through Topeka, Kansas, killing 16 people and injuring 450. About 820 homes were destroyed and 3,000 were damaged as entire neighborhoods were leveled. The cost of damage was estimated at $100 to $250 million, $939 to $2,348 million in 2023, making it one of the costliest tornadoes in U.S. history.
  • 1984 – Just after midnight, an F5 tornado damaged or destroyed 90% of Barneveld, Wisconsin, including a subdivision of new houses, which was obliterated. More homes were destroyed in and near Black Earth. Nine people were killed and about 200 were injured. Residents were awoken by a loud clap of thunder just a few minutes before the tornado struck.

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A cumulative map of all tornadoes and tornado warnings throughout the outbreak

Accompanying Hurricane Katrina's catastrophic coastal impacts was a moderate tornado outbreak spawned by the cyclone's outer bands. The event spanned August 26–31, 2005, with 57 tornadoes touching down across 8 states. One person died and numerous communities suffered damage of varying degrees from central Mississippi to Pennsylvania, with Georgia sustaining record monetary damage for the month of August. Due to extreme devastation in coastal areas of Louisiana and Mississippi, multiple tornadoes may have been overlooked—overshadowed by the effects of storm surge and large-scale wind—and thus the full extent of the hurricane's tornado outbreak is uncertain. Furthermore, an indeterminate number of waterspouts likely formed throughout the life cycle of Hurricane Katrina.

The outbreak began with an isolated F2 over the Florida Keys on August 26; no tornadoes were recorded the following day as the storm traversed the Gulf of Mexico. Four weak tornadoes were observed on August 28 as the hurricane approached land, each causing little damage. Coincident with Katrina's landfall, activity began in earnest on August 29 with numerous tornadoes touching down across Gulf Coast states. Georgia suffered the greatest impact on this day, with multiple F1 and F2 tornadoes causing significant damage; one person died in Carroll County, marking the first known instance of a tornado-related death in the state during August. A record 18 tornadoes touched down across Georgia on August 29, far exceeding the previous daily record of just 2 tornadoes for the month throughout the state. Activity diminished over the subsequent two days as the former hurricane moved northward. Several more tornadoes touched down across the Mid-Atlantic states before the cessation of the outbreak just after midnight local time on August 31. (Full article...)

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The scope of WikiProject Severe weather is to write articles about severe weather, namely thunderstorms and tornadoes. Their talk page is located here.

WikiProject Weather is the main hub for all articles that are weather-related. WikiProject Weather strives to improve articles in a variety of weather topics, including Tropical Cyclones, Severe Weather, General meteorology, Non-tropical Storms, Climate, Floods, Droughts and wildfires, Meteorological instruments and data, Meteorological Biographies, and Space Weather. If you would like to help, please visit the project talk page.

WikiProject Meteorology is a collaborative effort by dozens of Wikipedians to improve the quality of meteorology- and weather-related articles. If you would like to help, visit the project talk page, and see what needs doing. The project is currently being merged into WikiProject Weather.

WikiProject Tropical cyclones is a daughter project of WikiProject meteorology. The dozens of semi-active members and several full-time members focus on improving Wikipedia's coverage of tropical cyclones.

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