How a tornado forms?

 

1.Thunderstorms form when warm, wet air rises and mixes with cool, dry air above.

2. Some storms get stronger because of wind shear, when winds at higher altitudes move faster and in a different direction than winds at lower altitudes. Wind shear makes the storm tilt and rotate.

3. If a storm is strong enough, more warm air gets swept up into the storm cloud. At the same time, falling cool air produces a small cloud called a wall cloud.

4. Inside the wall cloud, a funnel cloud forms and extends towards the ground. It causes air on the ground to rotate, and begin to rip up the earth.

5. When the funnel cloud meets the churning air near the ground, it becomes a tornado. When the updrafts lose energy, the tornado does too, and it slowly disappears.How do scientists predict tornados?http://www.amnh.org/explore/ology/earth/tornadoes-spinning-thunderstorms

See tornados in action in the exhibition, Nature’s Furyhttp://www.amnh.org/exhibitions/current-exhibitions/nature-s-fury-the-science-of-natural-disasters