2. Thunderstorms are storms with lightning and thunder.
Tornadoes can also form during thunderstorms.
3. Lightning is static When the difference is
electricity. large enough, the
Negatively charged particles try to connect
particles gather in the to each other.
cloud.
Positively charged
particles gather on the
ground.
4.
5. 1. Cumulus Stage
Rising humid air forms
a cumulus cloud.
The condensation
continues. The updraft
keeps the rain particles
in the cloud.
The cloud continues
building into a
cumulonimbus cloud.
6.
7.
8.
9. At a Cold Front Within an Air Mass
Air is forced up quickly. Uneven heating can
This creates a cause convection
cumulonimbus cloud thunderstorms.
quickly. Remember convection is
the rising and falling of
air in a cycle.
10.
11. A tornado is a violently rotating column of air
stretching from a cloud to the ground.
You cannot see the air moving.
What you DO see is the things that the tornado has
picked up or water droplets.
12. More tornadoes occur in
North America than any
other place in the world.
Warm air from the Gulf
of Mexico moves north
and meets cold air
masses.
13.
14. Most tornadoes
Small; last only a few minutes
May break branches or ruin billboards
20% of tornadoes
Knock over large trees
Lift cars up
1% of tornadoes
Completely demolish sturdy buildings
15. The path of the tornado
is impossible to predict.
The tornado moves at
the same pace as the
thunderstorm it is
attached to.
16. The National Weather
Service issues a “tornado
watch” when conditions
are right to form
tornadoes.
A “tornado warning” is
issued when a tornado
has been detected.