Storms

Tornado
• small intense cyclonic vortex
• 100-450m diameter
• debris darkens base, condensation
occurs
• winds up to 400km/h - fastest
known surface winds
 Tornado (cont.)
• generally form in front of a cold
front as part of cumulonimbus
clouds
• most common in southeastern US
(tornado alley), also in Australia
• April-June: tornado season
 Tropical cyclones
• hurricane in Atlantic and eastern
Pacific, typhoon in western Pacific
and Indian Ocean
• 8-15o N&S of equator, over oceans
• High surface temperatures (27o+)
 Tropical cyclones, cont.
• circular low-pressure system forms
over ocean (950mb or less)
• storm moves westward through
trade winds, increasing intensity
• gains energy from release of latent
heat as heavy clouds form
 Anatomy of a Cyclone
• eye - low-pressure centre, clear sky
from descending adiabatically
warmed air
• eye wall - rising air, clouds, high
winds
• rain spirals - inspiralling bands of
cloud
Diagram of a huuricane
Hurricane
weather
map
Cyclone paths
 Cyclone impacts
• high winds- destroy coasts,
building, crops
• storm surges - high waves flood
coasts
• flooding - from storm surges and
intense rainfall
• landslides - result of heavy rainfall
 Electrical Storms
• strong updrafts within tall dense
cumulonimbus clouds
• convection cells created within
clouds as rising air is replaced by
falling air
• high-level winds drag top out,
creating anvil shape
 Electrical Storms, cont.
• convectional movements build up
positive and negative charges in
different parts of the cloud
• lightning is an electric arc between
opposite charges or from cloud to
ground
Rain beneath a cumulonimbus cloud
Thunderstorm, South Dakota
Anatomy of a
thunderstorm
Convection in unstable air
 Thunder and Lightning
• Thunder is the sound released by
the electrical arc
• Light travels faster than sound so
you see the lightning before you
hear the thunder
Hurricane
Gladys