Fun Facts About Tornadoes
Curious about tornadoes? Check out these fun facts about tornadoes for kids!
Facts About Tornadoes
Tornadoes are one of the most powerful types of weather that can occur.
What are tornadoes? Where do tornadoes hit? Why do tornadoes happen?
Do you have as many questions about tornadoes as we do?
Well, join us as we learn all about tornadoes.
Let’s get started with some fun facts and discover what tornadoes are, where tornadoes are most likely to happen, and why tornadoes form!
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Tornado Fun Facts
Tornadoes are formed from thunderstorms.
Thunderstorms alone do not cause tornadoes.Â
However, when there is a change in wind direction, wind speed, and temperature during a big thunderstorm, it is possible that a tornado can be formed.Â
Tornadoes are made of air.
Tornadoes are made up of really fast-spinning tubes of air that form a funnel.Â
They touch the clouds up in the sky and the ground down below.Â
Sometimes they spin so fast that buildings, trees, and other objects can be broken apart and thrown around. Oh my!Â
Tornadoes are measured with the Fujita Scale.
The Fujita scale measures the strength of tornadoes, ranging from F0 to F5.Â
F0 tornadoes are considered weak and cause a little bit of damage if any.Â
F5 tornadoes are said to be violent and can cause a lot of destruction.Â
Tornadoes have very high winds.
Some tornadoes can have wind speeds of around 65 miles per hour. That is fast!Â
However, really strong tornado winds can reach speeds up to 300 miles per hour. Wow!
Most tornadoes occur in Tornado Alley.
Tornado Alley is an area in the central United States where tornadoes are the most common. Â
From Texas all the way up to South Dakota and from Missouri over to the Rocky Mountains, tornadoes are most likely to occur; but tornadoes can actually happen anywhere in the world.
Tornadoes can be created over water.
When a tornado is above water, such as the ocean or another body of water, it is called a waterspout.Â
A tornado waterspout can be formed over water or move from land to water.Â
A tornado has other names.
Tornadoes aren’t just called tornadoes. They can also be known as twisters, cyclones, and funnels.
The safest place to be during a tornado is underground.
Basements, cellars, and other underground places are the safest places to ride out a tornado.Â
If you can’t get to an underground shelter, head to a room that has no windows on the bottom or first floor of your house or building.Â
Take shelter in a bathroom or closet, and if you can, cover yourself with a blanket, sleeping bag, or mattress.Â
Tornado Fun Facts for Kids
As you’ve just discovered, tornadoes are an incredible force of nature.Â
While it seems that the what, where, how, and why of a tornado is understood, tornadoes are so complex, that even scientists are actually still learning about them. Â
We look forward to finding more out about tornadoes in the future!Â
We hope you’ve enjoyed these fun facts about tornadoes!
I live in Huntsville so we have a tornado season. I really appreciate this post because approaching it as “interesting facts about tornados” really helped them be curious about it and help make a good plan around how we prepare for them when they are in the area!
I loved these fun facts about tornadoes! As a California girl, we don’t experience them or know much about them. I just learned so many cool facts!
I have been obsessed with learning about tornadoes since I was kid. These interesting facts on tornadoes taught me a couple of new things!
Teaching safety with fun facts about tornadoes is a great way to help kids understand and remember safety rules. We live in Texas and so we deal with them all the time. They are amazing – I’m in awe of them.
Instead of my kids being scared of tornados they are so interested in them because of these fun facts about tornadoes. They think they are so cool!
Tornados are my least favorite weather phenomenon where I live… but learning about them is helping me prepare better – thank you!
Even though I grew up in tornado territory, I learned some new fun facts about tornadoes with this post!
Our daughter was so scared of tornados until I started teaching her about tornados. These fun facts about tornadoes made it a lot less scary and a lot more interesting for her. Thank you!
I like that you made this fun facts about tornadoes post – it has helped my kids understand them more and make them more fascinating – not just scary weather!
Living in Texas, I always thought I knew pretty much everything there is to know about this topic, but these interesting facts on tornadoes taught me a couple of things! I love how this is presented in a way that’s not so scary for kids.