Portal:Tornadoes

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.

Selected tornado article -

Picture of a destroyed house in Wallingford

The Wallingford Tornado was a violent tornado that struck the town of Wallingford, Connecticut, on Friday, August 9, 1878. The tornado, unofficially rated F4 by tornado expert Thomas P. Grazulis, destroyed most of the town, killing about 34 people—estimated totals varied—and injuring at least 70, many severely. This was the deadliest tornado ever to strike the state of Connecticut, and the second deadliest ever in New England, after the Worcester tornado of 1953. (Full article...)

Selected tornado list -

Map of the tornadoes that touched down in Minnesota during 2009

The following is a list of 2009 Minnesota tornadoes. Minnesota is a state located in the North Central United States along the northern edge of Tornado Alley, and on average receives 24 tornadoes per year. 2009 was an average year historically, with 24 confirmed tornado touchdowns. Twenty-two of the tornadoes (91%) were considered minor, rated EF0 or EF1 on the Enhanced Fujita scale. The remaining two tornadoes were rated as significant, at EF2. The 24 tornadoes combined to cause $4.5 million in damage, and they did not cause any fatalities or injuries. The date range of the tornadoes was smaller than normal, lasting just over two months, from just June 17–August 19. The first tornado date of June 17 marked the third-latest-starting tornado season on record in Minnesota since 1950, behind only 1951 (June 19) and 1952 (June 23). (Full article...)

Selected image -

An EF4 tornado causing damage near Dalton, Minnesota.

Selected tornado year -

This page documents the tornadoes and tornado outbreaks of 1950, primarily in the United States. Most tornadoes form in the U.S., although some events may take place internationally.

This was the first year where tornadoes were documented by the U.S. Weather Bureau, which would later become the National Weather Service. Tornado statistics for older years like this often appear significantly lower than modern years due to fewer reports or confirmed tornadoes. As a result, this would be the least active tornado season ever recorded. In subsequent years, the documentation of tornadoes became much more widespread and efficient, with the average annual tornado count being around 1,253. (Full article...)

Related portals

2024 tornado activity

This page documents all tornadoes confirmed by the European Severe Storms Laboratory or various governments or universities across Europe during 2024. Unlike the United States, the original Fujita Scale and the TORRO scale are used to rank tornadoes across the continent. (Full article...)

Tornado anniversaries

June 5

• 1908 – An outbreak produced multiple violent tornadoes near the Kansas/Nebraska state line, killing 20 people. An F5 tornado killed 12 people as it traveled from near Deshler, Nebraska, across the eastern part of Carleton to near Geneva. Several farms were so completely destroyed that there was little evidence that they had even existed. Five people died in one family.
• 1916 – A tornado outbreak killed at least 99 people across the Central United States, with most of the deaths in Arkansas. An F4 tornado or tornado family killed at least 25 people on a path from near Barney to near Almond, Arkansas, including at least 18 in the devastation of Heber Springs. An F3 tornado destroyed a small community near Judsonia, Arkansas, killing nine people, including five children in one family. Another F3 tornado killed seven people, all in one house, near Sikeston, Missouri.
• 1917 – A tornado outbreak resulted in at least 49 deaths across the Midwestern United States. An F4 tornado killed 20 people in Cooper and Boone Counties, Missouri, including 7 in Centralia. Another F4 tornado killed nine people as it obliterated farms near Topeka, Kansas. An F3 tornado killed nine people as it passed between Norwood and Mountain Grove, Missouri.

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.

Did you know…

• ...that the 2013 Moore tornado that struck Moore and Newcastle, Oklahoma, is the most recent EF5 tornado?
• ...that the 2021 South Moravia tornado, an IF4 tornado with winds between 207–260 mph (333–418 km/h), was the strongest tornado to hit the Czech Republic in modern history?

General images -

The following are images from various tornado-related articles on Wikipedia.

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  Widespread devastation in a residential area of Dawson Springs (from 2021 Western Kentucky tornado)
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  High-end EF4 damage to a house in Bremen (from 2021 Western Kentucky tornado)
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  A liquor store that was destroyed in the western part of Bowling Green, Kentucky. (from Tornado outbreak of December 10–11, 2021)
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  Debris and destroyed homes along Alexander Street in Dawson Springs (from 2021 Western Kentucky tornado)
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  Aerial view of EF4 damage in Mayfield the day after the tornado (from 2021 Western Kentucky tornado)
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  Major structural damage to a house near Hartford (from 2021 Western Kentucky tornado)
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  A satellite view of the extratropical cyclone that was responsible for the tornado outbreak on December 11. (from Tornado outbreak of December 10–11, 2021)
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  Low-end EF4 damage to a business in downtown Cayce (from 2021 Western Kentucky tornado)
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  A multi-ton freight car that was thrown from the tracks in Barnsley (from 2021 Western Kentucky tornado)
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  Radar collage of a supercell that spawned a tornado family during the outbreak (from Tornado outbreak of December 10–11, 2021)
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  Trees that were completely debarked and denuded near Buckeye, Arkansas. (from Tornado outbreak of December 10–11, 2021)
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  Radar 3D volume scan of the supercell showing debris lofted over 30,000 feet (9.1 km) in the air as the tornado struck Mayfield (from 2021 Western Kentucky tornado)
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  EF3 damage to businesses in downtown Dresden, Tennessee. (from Tornado outbreak of December 10–11, 2021)
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  Derecho moving across eastern Nebraska and western Iowa (from December 2021 Midwest derecho and tornado outbreak)
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  High-end EF3 damage to homes in the Creekwood subdivision in Bowling Green, Kentucky. Numerous fatalities occurred in this area. (from Tornado outbreak of December 10–11, 2021)

Featured Article or List -

This is either a featured article or featured list, which represents some of the best articles on English Wikipedia.

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The California Closets Warehouse that was severely damaged by the tornado

The 2006 Westchester County tornado was the strongest and largest tornado in Westchester County, New York since the 1904 Chappaqua tornado. It touched down there on Wednesday, July 12, 2006, and traveled 13 miles (21 km) into southwestern Connecticut during a 33-minute span through two states. The tornado touched down at 3:30 p.m. EDT (19:30 UTC) on the shore of the Hudson River before becoming a waterspout and traveling 3 mi (5 km) across the river. Coming ashore, the tornado entered Westchester County and struck the town of Sleepy Hollow at F1 intensity. After passing through the town, it intensified into an F2 tornado and grew to almost a one-quarter mile (400 m) in diameter. The tornado continued through the county, damaging numerous structures, until it crossed into Connecticut at 4:01 p.m. EDT (20:01 UTC). Not long after entering the state, it dissipated in the town of Greenwich at 4:03 p.m. EDT (20:03 UTC). When the tornado entered Westchester County, it was the eighth known tornado to either touch down or enter the county since 1950.

Two barns and a warehouse were destroyed, and a large stained-glass window was shattered. Numerous homes and businesses were damaged and thousands of trees were uprooted. There were no fatalities and only six minor injuries were associated with the storm. The cost of damages was estimated at $12.1 million. (Full article...)

List of Featured articles and lists
Hurricane Katrina tornado outbreak List of Connecticut tornadoes List of tornadoes in the 1999 Oklahoma tornado outbreak 1999 Sydney hailstorm

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Tornadoes

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19th-century tornadoes

20th-century tornadoes

Buildings and structures destroyed by tornado

Deaths in tornadoes

Satellite tornadoes

Tornado outbreaks

Tornado-related lists

Works about tornadoes

Related WikiProjects

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.

Wikipedia is a fully collaborative effort by volunteers. So if you see something you think you can improve, be bold and get to editing! We appreciate any help you can provide!

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Here are some tasks awaiting attention: Article requests : WikiProject Weather article requests Expand : Severe weather Stubs : Expand Thunderstorm and tornado stub articles

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