Andy Lenz

Tornadogenesis. What causes a Tornado? Andy Lenz

Publisher Marketing: Seminar paper from the year 2015 in the subject Geography / Earth Science - Meteorology, Aeronomy, Climatology, language: English, abstract: Tornadoes are a ruthless, frightening force of nature. They are capable of wiping entire towns off the map and killing scores of people in their way. Their sheer power is extremely difficult to measure even with the most cutting edge weather instruments because the instruments themselves often cannot survive the impact of a tornado. People have feared and been captivated by this fascinating phenomenon for eternities. Because of their destructive power, intense research has been conducted in recent years to understand tornadoes. Millions of dollars have been spent funding studies and research. The government itself even funding a massive field research project on tornadoes called Vortex 2, which was the largest project ever to study tornadoes. All of this research has led to significant breakthroughs in how tornadoes form and the conditions that are favorable for their formation. Once a seemingly indecipherable force, tornadoes now have known factors that lead to their formation. These factors include, temperature, atmospheric instability, moisture, atmospheric forcing, and wind shear, among various other factors. One factor stands out from the rest, and that is wind shear. The presence of wind shear shows tremendous promise in identifying conditions favorable for the development of tornadoes. In fact, it seems to be the most pivotal condition needed for tornadoes to form due to multiple compelling reasons. Wind shear is the most important factor in tornadogenesis because it causes storms to rotate, sustains storms, and is present in almost all tornadic events.