Tornadoes: Violent Storms

10/4/2016 (Permalink)

Tornado damage can be devastating. Stay safe and then call SERVPRO to remediate!

SERVPRO Technicians are Certified in Storm Damage Remediation

One of the world’s most violent and devastating events of weather, tornadoes can make the strongest winds found on earth, nearing three hundred miles per hour. Tornadoes might last only a few seconds or can move miles over land for hours at a time. They can happen just about anywhere in the world, though their seeds and power will greatly vary with location. More than one tornado could add power to land falling hurricanes.

Tornadoes can also be referred to as whirlwinds, twisters or waterspouts when they are over water. When a warm wind collides with a cold wind, they begin to move around each other, which makes a spinning vortex. Then a corkscrew-like funnel will come down from the bottom of storm clouds and can go down all the way to the ground. The pressure at the center of the vortex is a few hundred millibars under the pressure outside. The wind that is spinning creates a huge vacuum which sucks up trees, loose objects, animals and even people. The path of a tornado can be very selective, destroying homes right in its path, while neighboring homes are left untouched. Even though they are usually under 250 meters wide, their path is destructive and can create storm damage a mile wide for more than fifty miles.

Famous for the amount of tornadoes it has each year, the United States can have as many as one thousand. Several dozen are labeled as violent or strong, meaning they have gotten up to two hundred miles per hour. Even though tornadoes can happen anywhere, there are particular regions which are more prone to them happening. In the mid-west of the U.S., close to Oklahoma City, there is an area referred to as Tornado Alley since it has more tornadoes than anywhere else. 148 tornadoes in 1974 were sighted in only 24 hours throughout America’s mid-west and south. Even with this, it is the United Kingdom which experiences the most actual tornadoes by land, even though a majority of these are quite weak.

There are even some people who are fascinated by tornadoes, following them and watching how they develop. They are referred to as Storm Chasers and have let us learn more about where and how tornadoes form, and the type of damages they can cause. Storm chasing is however quite dangerous, but some of the best film and pictures of tornadoes have been recorded by these chasers.

Since meteorological apparatus is generally destroyed by tornadoes’ intense winds, knowledge of these storms is limited. Tornadoes are measured by something called a Fujita scale, which is based upon wind speed, however, more usually the levels of damage.

If you’ve experienced a tornado in your area, your home has likely sustained damages. This is when it is time to call our professional technicians at SERVPRO of Cutler Bay, who can come out quickly to your property to assess damages and being a plan for remediation. Call (305) 278-8484.