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TORNADOES!

TORNADOES!. FRONTS. Weather is variable in the mid-latitudes. It can vary from mild and sunny, to cold and clear, to snowy and windy. What causes these changes? They are mostly caused b the movement of low-pressure systems and their associated frontal systems. What’s a Front ?.

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TORNADOES!

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  1. TORNADOES!

  2. FRONTS • Weather is variable in the mid-latitudes. It can vary from mild and sunny, to cold and clear, to snowy and windy. • What causes these changes? • They are mostly caused b the movement of low-pressure systems and their associated frontal systems.

  3. What’s a Front? • Air masses of different types don’t mix easily. • FRONT – the boundary that separates opposing air masses • Fronts vary in size (width can range from 200m  200km, and can be as high as 5km and as long as 2000km) • Fronts can affect weather patterns in very large areas • Fronts are most common at mid-latitudes where southward- moving polar air masses and northward-moving tropical air masses often meet.

  4. The air masses on either side of a front may differ in temperature, humidity or both • At the front, the less dense air mass rises over the denser air mass • Fronts usually bring precipitation – at the frontal surface, the less dense air rises high into the troposphere. The air cools as it rises, and if the air is humid enough, clouds and precipitation form

  5. Kinds of Fronts • The weather associated with a particular front depends on the types of masses involved and the speed at which the front is moving. • Fronts can occasionally occur between air masses that have the same temperature but different humidity. • Scientists usually define fronts according to the temperature of the advancing air mass. • 4 basic kinds of fronts: • Cold • Warm • Occluded • Stationary

  6. Cold Fronts • Cold front – the boundary between an advancing cold air mass and the warmer air mass it is displacing • Since cold air is denser than warm air, cold air slides underneath the warm air and forces it upward. • The type of weather a cold front brings depends on the type of air mass it is displacing

  7. Cold Fronts • EXAMPLE – if a cold air mass displaces warm, humid air in the summer, we often get thunderstorms • If cold air displaces hot dry air, very little change • In winter, a cold front is often marked by rain or snow showers • Cold fronts have a steep slope, so the precipitation associated with the front covers a narrow band of ground • Cold fronts move quickly and precipitation usually ends soon after the front passes

  8. Warm Fronts • Warm front – boundary formed between warm air displacing cold air • The advancing warm air rises above the denser cold air mass, which retreats slowly • The slope of a warm front is more gradual than that of a cold front, and the weather changes associated with the warm front are less dramatic

  9. Signs of approaching warm front: • High cirrus clouds, followed by cirrostratus and lower, thicker stratiform clouds • Following cirrus and cirrostratus clouds are altostratus, which almost screen out the sun and moon • Finally, heavy nimbostratus clouds arrive, and steady rain or snow begins • The rain or snow associated with warm fronts covers a lot of ground area, and lasts for a day or more (different than cold fronts!) • Thunderstorms not typical of warm front • After front passes, weather warms

  10. Occluded Fronts • Cold fronts typically move twice as fast as warm fronts. • If a cold front “catches up” to a warm front, the result is an occluded front. • The warm air is caught between the two colder air masses rises. As this warm air rises, it cools and causes cloudiness and precipitation

  11. Stationary Fronts • If a front is not moving forward, it is called a stationary front. • As with other fronts, the warmer air rises over the denser, colder air, and clouds and precipitation may result • If the front remains stationary for too long, flooding can occur.

  12. Weather Associated with Pressure Systems • When a low pressure system passes, the weather you experience depends on where the center of the low passes in relation to you • For example, for us, if a low passes north of us, warm front may move over us, followed by a cold front • If the low passes to the south, no fronts will move over us, but we might experience steady snow or rain

  13. If a low pressure system heading East passes North of us…….. • A warm front approaches from the west, cirrus clouds lead to cirrostratus, altostratus, nimbostratus and stratus. Steady snow or rain, followed by drizzle, marks the front’s approach • When the warm front passes, the temperature warms, winds shift, and the skies may slowly clear. If the air is humid, showery precipitation may occur, particularly nearer the center of the low

  14. As the cold front approaches, it is preceded by scattered showers and possibly thunderstorms • As the cold front passes, the temperature drops, winds shift again, and the sky clears

  15. High Pressure Systems • High pressure areas are associated with fair weather, clear skies • Winds blow outward from a high • Little or no wind in the center of the high • The still air there takes on the temperature and humidity of the aria, so highs are where air masses generally form.

  16. Thunderstorms! • Thunderstorms and their cumulonimbus clouds form in warm, moist, unstable air • Storm clouds may be as high as 20km, and they bring torrential rain, damaging wind, lightning, thunder, hail and tornadoes • Usually occur in afternoon because surface warming throughout the day causes air to become unstable

  17. How do thunderstorms develop? • A “trigger” forces part of the air to begin rising • The trigger can be a mountainside or a front standing in the way of the unstable air, or the air can collide with an opposing wind. • As the rising air reaches the condensation level, the heat released during condensation makes this air warmer and less dense than the surrounding air • A cumulonimbus cloud quickly grows and a thunderstorm begins!

  18. More about thunderstorms……. • They consist of one more convection cells • They often form along fronts because frontal boundaries force air to rise • Frontal thunderstorms are associated with large-scale low pressure systems and may start and stop for days • All thunderstorms produce lightning!

  19. Lightning!! • Lightning is a discharge of electricity from a thundercloud to the ground, to another cloud, or to another spot within the cloud itself • Lightning can also occur in the clouds of snowstorms, dust storms, or volcanic eruptions

  20. Tornadoes! • A tornado is a violently rotating column of air that usually touches the ground • In order for a thunderstorm to produce a tornado, it must contain a rotating updraft called a mesocyclone • This updraft occurs when low-altitude winds are blowing at a different speed and in a different direction than winds higher up

  21. Before a tornado develops, the rotating clouds of the mesocyclone may become visible at the base of the storm and may lower to form a wall cloud • About 10 to 20 min later, a tornado may descend from the wall cloud • However, only a third of all mesocyclones produce tornadoes, and a tornado may form without a visible mesocyclone or wall cloud

  22. A tornado often appears as a vortex or a funnel-shaped cloud of flying debris • Some tornadoes are rope shaped, some wedge shaped with more than one vortex • A tornado’s funnel cloud results when the air pressure at its center is very low and air sucked into the funnel expands and cools • Water vapor in the air condenses, forming a funnel-shaped cloud • If the air is drier, or the pressure inside the tornado is higher, the tornado may consist of a cloud of dust and debris, creating a loud roaring sound

  23. A tornado usually appears at the back edge of its parent thunderstorm and travels with the thunderstorm • Tornadoes can occur anywhere and at any time of the year • However – most common in “Tornado Alley” in spring and early summer • Tornado Alley – Texas  S. Dakota

  24. So, why do some thunderstorms turn into tornadoes? • Cumulonimbus clouds are produced when a mass of warm, moist air meets a mass of cold, dry air, generating a strong frontal system • If there is a strong high-altitude jet stream operating above it with winds of 150 mph or more, then the three moving air masses interact to form a strong wind shear that gets the cloud spinning

  25. In tornado alley, there are the perfect conditions to make frequent tornadoes • During spring and summer, masses of cold, dry air come down from Canada • These meet warm moist air from the Gulf of Mexico • At the same time, the jet stream shifts southward and focuses its energy over this region • Warm dry air can move east from the Southwest desert • The Rocky Mountains block the spread of these air masses to the west, so they end up concentrated in this narrow zone

  26. Where do they occur? • Every continent except Antarctica • Most common in American Midwest • Documented in Africa, western Australia, • New Zealand, South-central and eastern Asia, east-central South America and northwestern and southeast Europe • Bangladesh – kill 200 people/year!

  27. Increased sunlight of spring and early summer warms the air near the ground, while the air higher up is still cool • The temperature difference makes the air unstable, resulting in severe thunderstorms • Wind conditions in Tornado Alley ideal for mesocyclones to form because wind direction changes with elevation

  28. Fujita Tornado Intensity Scale

  29. http://video.nationalgeographic.com/video/environment/environment-natural-disasters/tornadoes/tornadoes-101/http://video.nationalgeographic.com/video/environment/environment-natural-disasters/tornadoes/tornadoes-101/ • Tornado video clip 2:45 – national geographic Tornadoes 101 http://video.nationalgeographic.com/video/environment/environment-natural-disasters/tornadoes/us-tornado-kansas-highway/

  30. For you to do: • Research a tornado • Describe where and when it took place • Was there any warning? • What was its intensity on the Fujita Scale? • Effects – damage, injury, lives lost, damages to infrastructure and homes, socioeconomic issues • Recovery/relief effort • At least 2 sources • Pictures and video clips

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