Weather Whys; Tornado Alley

This is weather-wise. It's late afternoon on a typical spring day in the nation's midsection. Children are playing in yards and parks. Tea cattle swissle as supper is prepared, but it's likely that in some town the sound of the kettle is replaced by the blaring of a civil defense siren as children huddle with their parents and shelters underground. For its tornado season in the central United States. An average nearly 800 twisters roar through American towns and fields each year, mainly concentrated in the tornado alley of the southern and central plains states. But tornadoes have occurred in every state, even Alaska. Packing winds that range from 100 to 300 miles per hour, tornadoes may be anywhere from a few hundred yards to a couple of miles wide. One particularly devastating twister was two and a half miles wide at times as it roared through the Carolinas in March of 1984. The vast majority of tornadoes are relatively weak and do very little damage. But about 2 percent are classified as violent, with winds in excess of 158 miles per hour,

and capable of inflicting severe damage. Actually, the wind speeds are just scientific estimates since no weather instrument has ever managed to survive the full force of a tornado. But the strongest tornadoes often pack an added punch with three to six smaller funnels circling around the main column. These are called suction vortices, and twisters containing them are called multiple vortex tornadoes. Such a display of atmospheric force often results in property damage, injuries, and death for those in its path. But tornadoes are also known for producing quirky phenomena, such as slurping up a pond full of frogs and raining them down nearby. Straws sail through the air as dangerous projectiles and end up piercing trees and bricks. Hundreds of even had their feathers pulled out. So when the civil defense sirens stop blowing, no one really knows what will be left behind. For weather-wise, I'm Drew Barlow.