So many people's lives are struck by the natural disasters we call tornadoes. Tornadoes are violent rotating columns of air that are in contact with the earth and the clouds above in the sky. Tornadoes usually happen in the Spring and early Summer between the months of March and July.
What can you do to prepare forTornadoes? Tornadoes can happen anywhere and everyone should be aware and ready. If you here the tornado sirens going off you should gather your family and go to the lowest point in your house, preferably under ground. If you do not have a basement go to your bathroom and sit in the bathtub with protection such as blankets or anything you can find. Your family should have a tornado action plan in place in case of an emergency like this. You should have helmets to protect your head from debris, socks and tennis shoes to protect your feet, food if you are going to be down in then area for sometime, weather radio, flashlights, and protective clothing. When you hear the sirens do not wait, go to your place of shelter ASAP.
What should I do with mypets? If you have pets such as dogs or cats you should take them to the basement or safe place in your house with you! They are important too!
Where do tornadoes most usually occur? Tornadoes can happen anywhere. They mostly occur in a place called Tornado alley which involves the US states of South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Texas. Tornadoes have also been common in Florida, Iowa, Illinois, Missouri, Alabama, and Mississippi.
What do tornadoes look like? There are pictures at the bottom of this article. But, tornadoes look like rotating columns of air. They can be any color depending on what sort of debris they have picked up, usually they are dark brown because of dirt. Tornadoes can be skinny or huge. They are usually formed during thunderstorms with lightning and rain which makes it harder to catch the tornadoes. They usually disperse from a cloud called a funnel. The funnel cloud is a funnel shaped cloud formed by condensed water droplets that are associated with rotating winds. They are basically a tornado before it reaches the ground.
Personal Story- 2005 I live in Kansas, USA. We experience tornadoes all the time during the spring and summer, so much so that they are normal to us. When I was about 7 years old I was with my mom, sister, and my mom's boyfriend at the time and we were at Walmart for our usual grocery shopping. It was raining and we didn't think anything about it. When we were leaving the Walmart, which was fifteen to twenty minutes away from our house the storm progressed to a severe thunderstorm. So we decided to go straight home. About five minutes into driving we saw a series of three funnel clouds next to each other, they ended up forming to make one huge tornado. We kept driving but it looked like it could come our way. Luckily, it didn't. When we were turning onto our street we saw another tornado that was behind a store diagonally across from my house- not even 200 meters away. We hurried inside and went to the basement. An hour later, the sky was clear and sunny. Only in Kansas, I guess Dorothy was right!
The moral of this story is simply that we all need to be on the lookout, especially when it is raining and thundering in the Spring, just because it is does not mean there will be tornadoes, you never know! Tornadoes often come when no one sees it coming. Like the calm before the storm!
Take the right step towards preparing your family for tornadoes! A slightly huge tornado on a farm.
A picture of a funnel cloud close to the right corner of the screen.