Tornado destruction. The largest tornado in the world. Is it possible to encounter tornadoes in Europe?

December 15, 2013

Tornado in the USA in 1958

A tornado (hurricane) is a whirlwind that arises in a thundercloud. From this cloud to the sea, an extension resembling a trunk is formed, the water under this whirlwind is agitated, and then rises cone-shaped towards the cloud.

The most powerful tornado in the world occurred in the United States of America in the city of Wichita Falls (Texas). This phenomenon was recorded on April 2, one thousand nine hundred and fifty-eight. He was included in the Guinness Book of Records. There has never been such a hurricane again. He moved with maximum wind speed: four hundred and fifty kilometers per hour.

This tornado belongs to the category of destructive whirlwinds. It not only destroys strong houses, but also dislodges them, moves them, lifts them into the air. A hurricane also sucks in various debris, debris, and trees. He can carry all this over a long distance. In addition to the top layer of soil, it also blows away cars and other heavy objects.

Hurricane Camille

The second strongest tornado of the last century is Hurricane Camille. It occurred in nineteen sixty-nine (August fourteenth) in the Atlantic Ocean (United States of America), causing landslides and destruction in the Mississippi River area.

Its speed was three hundred and ten kilometers per hour. But it was not like that right away: initially the wind speed was two hundred and fifty-six kilometers per hour. The storm began as a category three storm and very quickly gained strength as a category five (on the Saffir Simpson scale). As for the atmospheric pressure, it was very low: six hundred seventy-nine millimeters of mercury. It rapidly increased in intensity, came through the shores of Cuba, and then reached the Gulf of Mexico.

Tornado Mitch

The tornado caused massive destruction of infrastructure near the mouth of the Mississippi River. The entire coastal area was washed away. Camilla caused landslides, floods, and claimed two hundred and fifty-nine lives. Damage was caused in the amount of one and a half billion dollars. Until now, researchers and meteorologists do not understand what was the reason for such a sharp and rapid occurrence of this hurricane.

The third strongest tornado is called Mitch. It occurred in October 1998 in the Atlantic Basin (Caribbean Sea), and was very powerful. He was assigned the fifth category, which is considered the highest. The wind speed of this hurricane reached three hundred twenty kilometers per hour. The tornado affected many territories: Honduras, Nicaragua, El Salvador, and many others.

Enormous victims of the tornado

It claimed a lot of human lives: according to official data, about twenty thousand people. Most of them died from mud flows, strong winds, and waves that rushed to the shore. The waves were six meters high. Several hundred people died, more than one million people lost their homes, and several hundred required medical treatment. Many lives were claimed not only by the disaster, but also by the consequences after it, as the rise in infectious diseases increased. People needed water, but there was not enough of it. That is why they began to get sick with various infectious diseases.

In conclusion, it should be noted that over the past hundred years there have been a lot of tornadoes, hurricanes, and tornadoes in the world. However, Wichita Falls, Mitch and Camille are considered the most powerful in the entire world.

A tornado, or as it is also called, occurs in thunderclouds in the form of an atmospheric vortex spreading downwards and often reaches the surface of land or water. The color of a tornado can vary and depends on where it formed.

Tornadoes can occur at any time of the year, but they are most common between mid-spring and mid-summer. The largest number of tornadoes was recorded in North America, most of which occurred in the central states of the United States.

Up to 450 kilometers per hour

The record strongest tornado, which was listed in the Guinness Book of Records, occurred in one of the cities in Texas called Wichita Falls. The date when this destructive weather phenomenon occurred was April 2, 1958. The tornado that passed that day developed quite powerful wind speeds, sometimes reaching 450 kilometers per hour. Typically, such tornadoes are classified as destructive.

Another of the most powerful tornadoes in human history is the tornado that hit the United States on March 18, 1925. The speed of the passing tornado was up to 117 kilometers per hour. In three and a half hours, he managed to make his record journey of 352 kilometers through three states such as Indiana, Missouri and Illinois.

Tornado record holder

The number of people killed that day reached 350 people, and approximately two thousand people were wounded. The damage caused by this natural disaster was estimated at forty million dollars.

The record holder for the duration of its existence is the Mattoon tornado, which appeared in May 1917 in the United States of America. The duration of this tornado was seven hours and twenty minutes, during which time it managed to travel 500 kilometers. After the last Mattoon tornado, 110 people died.

The occurrence of two tornadoes at once was noted in May 1879 in an American town called Irving located in the state of Kansas. A strong bridge made of steel and 75 meters long was raised by them above the ground and turned into a twisted ball. Also, during the tornado, a wooden church was lifted into the air along with all the parishioners in it at that moment. A strong tornado carried her 4 meters to the side. The parishioners were not injured.

300 tornado victims

A tornado that passed through the Mississippi city of Natchez on May 7 in 1840 killed more than three hundred people and injured 109 people. Shortly before the tornado appeared, the city was hit by heavy rain, accompanied by large hail. After the violence of the tornado, some of the debris of destroyed houses were even within a radius of fifty kilometers from the city. The tornado also swept along the Mississippi River itself, sinking more than sixty boats.

In the history of all past tornadoes, a tornado is also known, the appearance of which occurred in May 1896 in the city of St. Louis, Missouri. 255 people became victims of the disaster, and a thousand or more residents of this city were injured. For twenty minutes the tornado raged through the city streets. It also hit the Eads Bridge connecting St. Louis with the neighboring city of Illinois. The bridge did not suffer any particular damage from the tornado, although it swayed in different directions like a blade of grass from the impact of the elements.

Tornadoes that appear in nature can be varied in appearance. So, for example, the most common type are whip-like tornadoes, which are a smooth thin funnel, the length of which is significantly greater than its radius.

Tornado or in other words tornado- a terrible natural phenomenon that sweeps away everything in its path. A powerful whirlwind is capable of destroying houses, breaking and uprooting trees, lifting cars into the air, destroying fields and plantations of crops and crops.

Tornado Facts

May 16, 1898 off the coast of Australia, pc. New South Wales, the world's tallest waterspout has been recorded. Its height was 1528 meters, and the diameter is only 3 m.

And the highest tornado on land was observed in 2004 on July 7 in the state of California (USA) in a national park. Its height was 3 650 meters.

The widest tornado was recorded on May 22, 2004 in the US state of Nebraska. Then the vortex reached the second most powerful category F4 and its diameter was 4000 m.

On May 3, 1999, a tornado of the highest category hit the United States near the city of Oklahoma - F5. Using Doppler radar, the wind speed inside the tornado funnel was measured - about 512 km/h This tornado was the most destructive. Oklahoma was completely destroyed, and the material damage caused by the force of the elements was estimated at 1.2 billion dollars.

The country in which tornadoes are recorded most often is - USA. In 2004, 1,819 tornadoes were reported in the United States. And in May 2003, 543 whirlwinds occurred. In 1974, from April 3 to April 4, 148 tornadoes were recorded across the midwestern and southern states of the United States.

Problems range from local troubles to global cataclysms. Volcanic eruptions, large hail that destroys crops and breaks through the roofs of houses and cars, prolonged rains causing a rapid rise in water levels in rivers, heavy downpours leading to mudflows and landslides. In addition, there are tropical cyclones, which weather services from different countries, including Russia, love to scare ordinary people with, the notorious global warming, as elusive as atypical fever, foreign tornadoes and domestic tornadoes, sea/ocean storms, hurricanes - you can’t count everything. Of inexhaustible interest are tornadoes that arise for reasons inexplicable to an ordinary person in a matter of minutes, terrifying, mystical in appearance, sad in the volume of destruction, general material damage, and often casualties. What and where was the largest tornado in the world is a question that is probably interesting to all readers.

First of all, to avoid confusion in concepts, it is necessary to say that hurricanes are tropical cyclones, moving with enormous speed and the same destructive force, coming to land from the ocean, and this happens in many places in the world, from the USA to the Russian Far East, have has little in common with tornadoes.

Is that their ultra-high speed of moving air for normal atmospheric conditions and the destructive consequences for people caught in their area of ​​​​action. But at the same time, a hurricane is a much more global phenomenon, compared to a tornado, which originates and acts in a limited, in comparison, territory.

Now about the difference between the concepts of a tornado and a tornado. These are two names for the same destructive atmospheric phenomenon of nature. It’s just that the first is more familiar to the residents of Russia, and the second to the USA and Canada, on whose territory in North America the largest number of such terrifying “gifts” from planet Earth occur.

By the way, the natural phenomenon received its foreign name from the conquistadors who saw a spinning storm and called it tornar, which translated from Spanish means to twist/twist. The word, familiar to the inhabitants of Russia, has its roots in the ancient Russian “march”, which meant cloud.

Scientific explanations for the mechanism of a tornado are as follows:

• This is an atmospheric vortex, also called an annular storm.
• Differences from a hurricane are the scale of the action zone from origin to loss of wind energy, dissipation, varying from tens of meters above the surface of water bodies to 3 km above solid ground.
• Favorable conditions for the appearance are a thunderstorm front with cumulus rain clouds, in which it arises, spreading down to the very surface of the earth or water (depending on the place of origin) in the form of a sleeve, rope, trunk, which is how a tornado appears to observers.
• Inside the tornado, air masses descend and outside they rise, which creates rotation and, as a result, a zone of strong vacuum, whose values ​​inside the tornado, which scientists really want to measure for obvious reasons, but cannot, are so high that they are filled with air under normal atmospheric pressure buildings with closed windows and doors simply explode, at best, losing glazed joinery, but often this leads to more significant destruction. This is especially true for the mortgaged buildings made of wooden blocks, plywood and plasterboard, for which one-story America is famous, unaware of the misadventures of two of the three little pigs from the fairy tale.
• Determined by scientists based on indirect observational data, the air speed inside a tornado can reach terrifying values ​​- up to 1,300 km/h.
• The tornado is inseparable from the cloud that gave birth to it, and moves with it.
• The length of the passage of a tornado is different, directly depends on the energy reserve of the thunderstorm front, meteorological conditions along the route, varying from several tens to hundreds of kilometers with a zone of severe, sometimes continuous, destruction hundreds of meters wide.

An “ordinary” tornado should not be confused with dust/sand whirlwinds/storms, since the mechanism of origin and development of these natural phenomena is different, despite the external similarity/similarity.

Tornadoes can theoretically occur anywhere on Earth, with the exception of mountainous and polar regions, but, in practice, among the leaders are the Great Plains in the United States, which apparently is an ideal natural testing ground for the creation and development of a tornado, as well as the southern regions of Brazil and China. In other regions of the planet, including Russia, conditions for their appearance are rarely formed - on average, once every few years.

The most powerful tornadoes in human history occurred:

Assessing which one is the biggest is, to say the least, unethical.

The most powerful tornado in the Russian Empire, which occurred on June 29, 1904, was mentioned by the famous writer Vladimir Gilyarovsky in the essay “Hurricane”. Anyone can get acquainted with it. It is worth warning that the essay ends with the words “The impression is terrible,” characterizing the author’s attitude to what he saw after the tornado.

Readers, having learned from the article that a tornado in the world is extremely unlikely in the vast expanses of Russia, can more calmly watch news programs on TV, similar information on the Internet, despite the hysterical assurances of bloodthirsty journalists that everything, in connection with the semi-mythical global warming, will only be worse.

Few people will be happy with hot, dry, windless weather. But even less joyful are the strong gusts of wind that knock people off their feet and destroy everything around them. It is this kind of squally wind that is called a hurricane. Its speed can reach 300 meters per second. In this article we will talk about which of the most powerful hurricanes in the world caused significant damage to people and claimed human lives.

What is a hurricane

A hurricane is a strong wind whose speed is significantly higher than 30 meters per second. In the southern hemisphere of the planet, the wind blows clockwise, and in the northern hemisphere it blows in the opposite direction, that is, against it.

Typhoon, cyclone, storm and breeze are multiplied definitions of a hurricane. Hydrometeorological center specialists have multiplied the concepts of the word “hurricane” to simplify their work. Often hurricanes and cyclones are given names similar to women's names, but in the modern world this rule is changing slightly so that there is no obvious discrimination.

The largest hurricanes in the world have caused significant damage to humanity, causing a huge number of casualties and damage. This is the most powerful thing imaginable. Hurricanes have enormous energy.

Gusts of wind demolish buildings, destroy crops, disrupt power lines and water supply lines, damage highways, uproot trees, and cause accidents. This type of damage causes the world's most powerful hurricanes. The list and statistics of the most powerful natural disasters of our time are updated with new cyclones every year.

Hurricane classification

There is no standard classification of hurricanes. There are only two groups of them: a vortex storm and a flow hurricane.

During a vortex storm, funnel-shaped gusts arise, which are caused by the activity of cyclones and spread over a large area. In winter, snow storms prevail, which are called blizzards or blizzards.

A flow hurricane does not travel as far as a vortex storm. He is conditioned and significantly inferior to his “brother”. There are jet and katabatic hurricanes. A jet storm is characterized by a horizontal flow, while a runoff storm is characterized by a vertical flow.

Hurricane Matthew

The Atlantic hurricane, called "Matthew", originated on the African shores on September 22, 2016. The cyclone gained strength as it moved toward Florida. On October 6, the hurricane weakened slightly, affecting a small part of the Bahamas and Miami. The next day, the storm wind reappeared with redoubled force, its gusts reaching 220 kilometers per hour. This mark indicated category 5 hurricane power on the Saffir-Simpson scale. It is worth noting that category 5 is the highest level.

It is impossible to overestimate the damage caused by Hurricane Matthew. At least 877 people became victims of the disaster, 350 thousand were left homeless and without means of survival. 3.5 thousand buildings were destroyed. Matthew, which struck Florida in 2016, is the world's most powerful hurricane this decade. Photos of the consequences prove this.

Citizens affected by the disaster were provided with temporary housing or a place in a shelter. Health workers say cholera outbreaks are possible in the near future as the water is contaminated.

Myanmar: Hurricane Nargis

The most powerful hurricanes in the world that have occurred over the past 10 years have caused irreparable losses from which people cannot recover to this day. Cyclone Nargis, which hit Myanmar in 2008, was just such a disaster.

People were not notified in time about the impending disaster, so they could not prepare. In addition, the country's government initially refused all assistance from other states.

But after some time, the entry of humanitarian goods was allowed, and people received the necessary help.

Myanmar is the poorest country, with an annual income per citizen of only $200. Hurricane Nargis dealt a crushing blow not only to the citizens of the country, but also to the state economy as a whole.

Cuba and Hurricane Sandi

Hurricane Sandy struck southeastern Cuba on October 25, 2012. The wind speed exceeded 183 meters per hour.
A large number of people were injured. In Jamaica, a man was killed by a boulder that fell from the sky. In Haiti, a flood swept away a woman who was never found. As a result of the disaster, about 200 people died and more than 130,000 buildings were destroyed.

Sandi is the 18th tropical storm to hit this decade. Before hitting Cuba, the hurricane intensified to almost category two.

Looking at the photo of the cyclone, we can say with certainty that Sandy and the rest of the most powerful hurricanes in the world over the past 10 years have become for people the only terrifying disaster in their lives.

Hurricane Ike

Tropical storm Ike hit the United States in 2008. The hurricane was not too strong, but very impressive in its scale. The origin of the cyclone occurred in the southeast of the American coast. Meteorologists were preparing for a hurricane of 5, the highest, on the Saffir-Simpson scale.

It was approaching the mark of 135 kilometers per hour. But gradually the wind died down and the elements weakened.

Texas, especially the small city of Galveston, was hit the hardest. An interesting fact is that this town has already felt the power of the strongest hurricane of the 20th century.

Texas authorities carried out a massive evacuation of people, but most citizens did not want to leave their homes. The authorities were prepared for the disaster to cause colossal damage and lead to floods, as often happens.

The most severe hurricanes in the world cause severe consequences, from which people do not recover immediately. The names of many of them will forever remain in the memory of the affected people.

It is important to know

Every country suffers from the effects of cyclones to varying degrees every year. Therefore, it is so important to know certain rules of behavior during a storm. Under no circumstances should you:

• climb a hill, bridge, power lines;
• be near poles, trees, flammable substances and toxic chemicals;
• hide from the wind behind billboards, signs, banners;
• being in a damaged building, as we know, the most powerful hurricanes in the world easily destroy buildings;
• use electrical appliances.

After the wind subsides, it is dangerous:

• approach broken wires;
• touch swinging signs, banners, billboards;
• stay in the house during power outages;
• use electrical appliances;
• If there was a thunderstorm, you should not touch electrical appliances to avoid electrical discharge.

Did you know that the destructive power of a particular hurricane can lead to the fact that the name assigned to the cyclone will be crossed off from the list of names that can have the most powerful hurricanes in the world. For example, Hurricane Katrina of 2005 fell under this rule, and meteorologists will never use this name again.