A tornado is a violently rotating column of air that extends from a thunderstorm and comes into contact with the ground, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
There is a scale for tornadoes that breaks up into categories from F-0 to F-5. The wind speed for these categories begins at 72 mph all the way up to 261-318 mph. I understand how houses, trees and vehicles are torn from the ground and hurled across to another spot not necessarily nearby. I was shocked to find my home state California had 10 tornadoes in 2004. They must be of the F-0 variety.
Yearly the US averages over 1,000 tornadoes with unfortunately resulting deaths each year as well. Since 1985 the most tornadoes in a year was 2004 with an astonishing 1,819. Incredibly tornado related deaths were actually relatively low, 36, compared to the amount of tornadoes.
I found this article online, www.nws.noaa.gov, with a history of tornadoes and warnings of impending tornadoes. It is a great source and interesting history of alerts and warning systems for tornadoes.
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