What causes the air in a storm to swirl horizontally?

What causes the air in a storm to swirl horizontally?

As the wind blows one direction at the surface, it blows the opposite direction in the upper levels of the atmosphere. This will cause the air to swirl horizontally in the atmosphere. Rising air from the ground then pushes upward on the swirling air and then “tips” it upright.

What causes the high wind speeds associated with tornadoes?

Well, the strongest winds in a tornado occur when air from outside the tornado can flow closest to the center of the vortex. The conservation of angular momentum, e.g., the rotation in the air, requires that as the air flows toward the center of the tornado (as it spirals in) its rotation must increase.

Which stage of a thunderstorm involves both updrafts and downdrafts existing side by side in the cloud?

The downdrafts also begin to pull cold, dry air from outside the cloud toward the ground in a process called entrainment. Once the precipitation begins to fall from the cloud, the storm has reached the mature stage. During this stage, updrafts and downdrafts exist side-by-side and the cumulonimbus is called a cell.

What causes the high wind speeds associated with tornadoes quizlet?

Tornadoes have such high wind speeds because the pressure gradient inside the tornado is so high. Therefore, conditions that are most conducive to the formation of tornadoes are warm, moist and unstable air.

What is a horizontal tornado?

This harmless phenomenon, called a roll cloud, forms where cold air drives low-hanging, moist warm air upward. Cooler temperatures condense the moisture to form clouds. Winds create the rolling effect. By Stephanie Pappas, LiveScience on March 16, 2012.

What is spinning wind called?

A whirligig can also be a pinwheel, buzzer, comic weather-vane, gee-haw, spinner, whirlygig, whirlijig, whirlyjig, whirlybird, or simply a whirly. Whirligigs are most commonly powered by the wind but can be hand, friction, or motor powered.

Which storm event produces the highest wind speeds?

At peak intensity, tornadoes have the highest wind speeds. Mobile Doppler radars have remotely measured tornado wind speeds as high as 318 mph in a twister near Bridge Creek, Okla., on May 3, 1999. While there is no upper limit to a hurricane’s top wind speed, the top intensity level, Category 5, begins at 156 mph.

Why is the Earth always spinning around its axis?

Here’s the basic idea: Earth is constantly spinning around its axis from west to east. But because Earth is a sphere, and wider in the middle, points at the equator are actually spinning faster around the axis than points near the poles. So imagine you were standing in Texas and had a magic paper airplane that could travel hundreds of miles.

Why does the wind blow from west to East?

Wind is named according to the direction it comes from, so a west wind blows from the west to the east. Wind is caused by the uneven heating of Earth’s surface by the sun. Differences in air pressure are created because different surfaces absorb solar heat in varying amounts.

What happens to the air as it rises and falls?

Hot air rises and creates an area of low pressure underneath it, while cool air falls and creates high pressure above it. Air from high pressure areas flows into nearby low pressure areas, creating wind.

How is the Coriolis effect related to the Earth rotation?

To explain the Coriolis Effect, imagine a cannon positioned at the equator and facing north. Even though the cannon appears stationary to someone on Earth, it is in fact moving east at about 1600 km/hr due to Earth’s rotation.