Severe winds and tornadoes: Difference between revisions
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== Overview == | == Overview == | ||
A tornado is a narrow, violently rotating column of air that extends from a thunderstorm to the ground. They can destroy buildings, flip cars, and create deadly flying debris, causing extensive damages to infrastructure, homes, and businesses within minutes<ref>https://www.spc.noaa.gov/faq/tornado/#Damage</ref>. It is one of the highly destructive severe weather phenomena in the US. Between 1983 and 2024, severe storms, including tornadoes have caused over 500 billion dollars loss in the US, the second largest disaster in terms of loss<ref name=":0" />. Readers can read more about tornadoes from many resources, including the [https://www.spc.noaa.gov/faq/tornado/ NOAA Storm Prediction Center], [https://www.nssl.noaa.gov/education/svrwx101/tornadoes/ NOAA National Severe Storm Laboratory] website and the wikipedia page of [[wikipedia:Tornado|tornado]]. | |||
Climate change has changed the path and behaviors of tornadoes. Although the number of days with tornadoes has fallen, other trends are increasing, including outbreaks with 30 or more tornados in one day, the density of tornado clusters (i.e., tornadoes are closer geographically), and the strength of tornadoes. The distribution of tornadoes has also shifted eastward. These trends have not been directly linked to climate change.https://www.c2es.org/content/tornadoes-and-climate-change/ | |||
Future of tornadoes: | |||
Studying tornadoes from a financial risk perspective is crucial because the unpredictable nature of these events poses a serious threat to industries, insurance companies, and local economies. Understanding the frequency, impact, and potential damages of tornadoes allows businesses, investors, and insurers to better assess and mitigate the financial risks associated with these extreme weather events, ensuring more resilient financial planning and disaster preparedness. | |||
- How severe is a tornado? Tornados are measured using the Enhanced Fujita Scale (EF Scale), which rates tornados based on estimated wind speeds based on the damage caused. | - How severe is a tornado? Tornados are measured using the Enhanced Fujita Scale (EF Scale), which rates tornados based on estimated wind speeds based on the damage caused. | ||
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Tornadoes occur in many parts of the world, including Australia, Europe, Africa, Asia, and South America. Even New Zealand reports about 20 tornadoes each year. Two of the highest concentrations of tornadoes outside the U.S. are Argentina and Bangladesh. | Tornadoes occur in many parts of the world, including Australia, Europe, Africa, Asia, and South America. Even New Zealand reports about 20 tornadoes each year. Two of the highest concentrations of tornadoes outside the U.S. are Argentina and Bangladesh. | ||
- impacts of tornado: Tornadoes can destroy buildings, flip cars, and create deadly flying debris. It is one of the highly destructive severe weather phenomena in the US. Between 1983 and 2024, severe storms, including tornadoes have caused over 500 billion dollars loss in the US, the second largest disaster in terms of loss<ref>https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/access/billions/summary-stats#:~:text=Time%20Period%2C%20Last%20Year%20(2023)%2C%20All%20Years,15%2C%2042%2C%20Events/Year%2C%2028.0%2C%208.8%2C%201.5%2C%204.2%2C</ref>. Most of the damage from a tornado happens one of two direct ways: exposure to extreme wind or impact by flying debris. In a developed area, a tornado essentially acts as a giant blender full of millions of small and large projectiles--boards, broken glass, nails, shingles, gravel, wire, cables, sheet metal, hardware, tree parts, whole trees, rocks, bricks, appliances, furniture, household items, even vehicles and large parts of houses. A dump truck thrown into a building by a nearby subvortex, for example, can do enormous damage even if the wind at the building site isn't that strong on its own. Sometimes a tornado will weaken a structure enough that parts or all of it collapses later due to structural weakness and imbalances. This is why people should not enter a heavily damaged home or other building until fire officials and/or an engineer can survey it. Another reason is that hazardous materials may have been released by the tornado--such as natural gas, medical waste, gasoline, other dangerous chemicals, or sewage. Such "HAZMAT" releases, along with live electrical wires, also can be a cause of indirect tornado damage--either chemically or through fires. Broken water pipes can cause considerable water and flood damage also<ref>https://www.spc.noaa.gov/faq/tornado/#Damage</ref>. | - impacts of tornado: Tornadoes can destroy buildings, flip cars, and create deadly flying debris. It is one of the highly destructive severe weather phenomena in the US. Between 1983 and 2024, severe storms, including tornadoes have caused over 500 billion dollars loss in the US, the second largest disaster in terms of loss<ref name=":0">https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/access/billions/summary-stats#:~:text=Time%20Period%2C%20Last%20Year%20(2023)%2C%20All%20Years,15%2C%2042%2C%20Events/Year%2C%2028.0%2C%208.8%2C%201.5%2C%204.2%2C</ref>. | ||
Most of the damage from a tornado happens one of two direct ways: exposure to extreme wind or impact by flying debris. In a developed area, a tornado essentially acts as a giant blender full of millions of small and large projectiles--boards, broken glass, nails, shingles, gravel, wire, cables, sheet metal, hardware, tree parts, whole trees, rocks, bricks, appliances, furniture, household items, even vehicles and large parts of houses. A dump truck thrown into a building by a nearby subvortex, for example, can do enormous damage even if the wind at the building site isn't that strong on its own. Sometimes a tornado will weaken a structure enough that parts or all of it collapses later due to structural weakness and imbalances. This is why people should not enter a heavily damaged home or other building until fire officials and/or an engineer can survey it. Another reason is that hazardous materials may have been released by the tornado--such as natural gas, medical waste, gasoline, other dangerous chemicals, or sewage. Such "HAZMAT" releases, along with live electrical wires, also can be a cause of indirect tornado damage--either chemically or through fires. Broken water pipes can cause considerable water and flood damage also<ref>https://www.spc.noaa.gov/faq/tornado/#Damage</ref>. | |||
You can read more about the EF Scale on the [https://www.nssl.noaa.gov/education/svrwx101/tornadoes/ NOAA National Severe Storm Laboratory] website. National Weather Service website. https://www.nssl.noaa.gov/education/svrwx101/tornadoes/ | You can read more about the EF Scale on the [https://www.nssl.noaa.gov/education/svrwx101/tornadoes/ NOAA National Severe Storm Laboratory] website. National Weather Service website. https://www.nssl.noaa.gov/education/svrwx101/tornadoes/ | ||
- observed trends of tornado: | |||
- observed trends of tornado: | |||
- future of tornado. | - future of tornado. | ||
Revision as of 13:23, 12 September 2024
Overview
A tornado is a narrow, violently rotating column of air that extends from a thunderstorm to the ground. They can destroy buildings, flip cars, and create deadly flying debris, causing extensive damages to infrastructure, homes, and businesses within minutes[1]. It is one of the highly destructive severe weather phenomena in the US. Between 1983 and 2024, severe storms, including tornadoes have caused over 500 billion dollars loss in the US, the second largest disaster in terms of loss[2]. Readers can read more about tornadoes from many resources, including the NOAA Storm Prediction Center, NOAA National Severe Storm Laboratory website and the wikipedia page of tornado.
Climate change has changed the path and behaviors of tornadoes. Although the number of days with tornadoes has fallen, other trends are increasing, including outbreaks with 30 or more tornados in one day, the density of tornado clusters (i.e., tornadoes are closer geographically), and the strength of tornadoes. The distribution of tornadoes has also shifted eastward. These trends have not been directly linked to climate change.https://www.c2es.org/content/tornadoes-and-climate-change/
Future of tornadoes:
Studying tornadoes from a financial risk perspective is crucial because the unpredictable nature of these events poses a serious threat to industries, insurance companies, and local economies. Understanding the frequency, impact, and potential damages of tornadoes allows businesses, investors, and insurers to better assess and mitigate the financial risks associated with these extreme weather events, ensuring more resilient financial planning and disaster preparedness.
- How severe is a tornado? Tornados are measured using the Enhanced Fujita Scale (EF Scale), which rates tornados based on estimated wind speeds based on the damage caused.
Tornadoes occur in many parts of the world, including Australia, Europe, Africa, Asia, and South America. Even New Zealand reports about 20 tornadoes each year. Two of the highest concentrations of tornadoes outside the U.S. are Argentina and Bangladesh.
- impacts of tornado: Tornadoes can destroy buildings, flip cars, and create deadly flying debris. It is one of the highly destructive severe weather phenomena in the US. Between 1983 and 2024, severe storms, including tornadoes have caused over 500 billion dollars loss in the US, the second largest disaster in terms of loss[2].
Most of the damage from a tornado happens one of two direct ways: exposure to extreme wind or impact by flying debris. In a developed area, a tornado essentially acts as a giant blender full of millions of small and large projectiles--boards, broken glass, nails, shingles, gravel, wire, cables, sheet metal, hardware, tree parts, whole trees, rocks, bricks, appliances, furniture, household items, even vehicles and large parts of houses. A dump truck thrown into a building by a nearby subvortex, for example, can do enormous damage even if the wind at the building site isn't that strong on its own. Sometimes a tornado will weaken a structure enough that parts or all of it collapses later due to structural weakness and imbalances. This is why people should not enter a heavily damaged home or other building until fire officials and/or an engineer can survey it. Another reason is that hazardous materials may have been released by the tornado--such as natural gas, medical waste, gasoline, other dangerous chemicals, or sewage. Such "HAZMAT" releases, along with live electrical wires, also can be a cause of indirect tornado damage--either chemically or through fires. Broken water pipes can cause considerable water and flood damage also[3].
You can read more about the EF Scale on the NOAA National Severe Storm Laboratory website. National Weather Service website. https://www.nssl.noaa.gov/education/svrwx101/tornadoes/
- observed trends of tornado:
- future of tornado.
Data:
Historical Tornado data
| Dataset | Description | Data Access |
|---|---|---|
| Severe weather events archive by NOAA | Organized severe thunderstorms archived by Storm Prediction Center of NOAA. The weather events covered include tornadoes, hail, and strong winds. The archive provides information on observation time, location (with detailed latitude and longitude), and estimated wind speed. | Access |
| Severe weather database by NOAA | Data for tornadoes, hail, and damaging wind, as compiled from NWS Storm Data. Tornado reports exist back to 1950 while hail and damaging wind events date from 1955. Information is provided on observation time, location, storm magnitude, as well as mortality, injuries, and estimated losses for property and crops. Please read the format specification for more information. | Access (Note: The CSV data files are located further down the webpage.) |
| Severe weather data inventory (SWDI) by NCEI of NOAA[4] | An integrated database of U.S. severe weather records that provides access to data from a variety of sources in the NCEI archive. SWDI includes multiple search and access methods for records that cover particular time periods and geographic regions. Data are currently available in Shapefile (for GIS), KMZ (for Google Earth), CSV (comma-separated), and XML formats. Note that no additional quality control measures are taken beyond the processing that takes place during data archival. | Access |
The Storm Prediction Center of NOAA contains a lot of useful resources, including climatology and statistics of tornadoes: https://www.spc.noaa.gov/wcm/#data
European Severe Weather Database https://eswd.eu/
Global Disaster Database (EM-DAT)
wind speed averages: https://disgeoportal.egs.anl.gov/portal/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=a69fcf899d91410799233f104b025552; https://climrr.anl.gov/mapexplorer;
- ↑ https://www.spc.noaa.gov/faq/tornado/#Damage
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/access/billions/summary-stats#:~:text=Time%20Period%2C%20Last%20Year%20(2023)%2C%20All%20Years,15%2C%2042%2C%20Events/Year%2C%2028.0%2C%208.8%2C%201.5%2C%204.2%2C
- ↑ https://www.spc.noaa.gov/faq/tornado/#Damage
- ↑ https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/products/severe-weather-data-inventory