Life cycle of a Tornado

These can even be wider than they are tall, looking like a band of dark clouds rather than a funnel. Rope tornadoes are usually narrow, curly tornadoes that are dissipating. Their ropiness is what eventually dissipates their energy. Families of tornadoes can form with a common center.

Waterspouts are tornadoes that form over water. Those you see in good weather are not usually tornadic. They are a lot like dust devils on land with relatively weak wind and smoother walls. They do not move quickly and are usually seen in warmer waters, such as in Florida or other subtropical areas. There are tornadic waterspouts, however, that do have stronger winds. These are generally formed in bad weather and not in fair weather conditions. Most are not counted officially as tornadoes unless land is affected in some way.

Landspouts are also called dust tube tornadoes. These also form in fair weather rather than bad weather and are similar to waterspouts in many ways. The winds are weak and they do not last long. They actually have different basic mechanics than real tornadoes do.

A tornado's path width of damage can be as little as a few feet across or as wide as 2.5 miles. The record width so far is about 2.6 miles, while the record path length was 219 miles. Most longer paths are due to multiple tornadoes breaking out in a row.

LIFE CYCLE OF A TORNADO

Tornadoes have a certain life cycle. They occur because of thunderstorms and usually from supercell thunderstorms. These thunderstorms contain mesocyclones, which are organized areas of rotation up in the atmosphere. The tornado life cycle begins as these mesocyclones. They lower from the base of the cloud, sucking cold and wet air leaving the cloud as a downdraft. The mixing of cold and warm air leads to rotation and low pressure formation. Low pressure sucks the mesocyclone downward toward the ground.

Tornadoes have a great deal of heat and moisture in the beginning; these things power a tornado and make it grow. Eventually, it fully matures, where it causes the most damage to the ground structures. The essential part of a tornado necessary for its endurance is

its low pressure system. Eventually however, cooler winds wrap around the tornado that cannot get any of the heat it needs for power.

The tornado has no energy being added to it, so the vortex weakens and the tornado becomes a rope tornado. A rope tornado cannot sustain itself and it eventually dissipates completely. Rope tornadoes can still be damaging until they get so wrapped up and entangled that they dissipate. The mesocyclone weakens and there is no power coming down from the cloud either. On occasion, this does not happen completely and another tornado grows out of the same mesocyclone.