Run For Your Life! Earthquakes and Tornadoes Earthquakes and Tornadoes

What is a Tornado? A tornado is a dark funnel-shaped cloud made up of violently rotating winds that can reach speeds of up to 300 mph. Tornadoes generally travel in a northeast direction (depending on the prevailing winds) at speeds ranging from 20–60 mph.

What causes a Tornado? Tornadoes are most often made by giant thunderstorms known as “supercells.” These powerful storms form when warm, moist air along the ground rushes upward, meeting cooler, drier air. As the rising warm air cools, the moisture it carries condenses, forming a massive thundercloud, sometimes growing to as much as 50,000 ft in height. Variable winds at different levels of the atmosphere feed the updraft and cause the formation of the tornado

Where are Tornadoes found? The conditions that lead to the formation of tornadoes are most often met in the central and southern United States, where warm, humid air from the Gulf of Mexico, which collides with cool, dry air from the Rockies and Canada. There is a famous place called Tornado alley, where Tornadoes can be found. Tornadoes can also be found elsewhere, such as, Europe, Asia, and Australia.

Earthquakes in general An earthquake is caused by sudden, violent shifting of massive rocks called plates under the earth's surface. This movement of the plates releases stress that accumulates along geologic faults. A fault is a deep crack that marks the boundary between two of these plates. Earthquake belts occur along faults around the world. Many run along coastal areas. The San Andreas fault in central California is well-known for causing severe earthquakes

Earthquakes and Volcanoes When there is an earthquake, two plates move together which causes a very big shake. Sometimes, the two plates can move away from each other causing a gap in the earths crust. When this happens, magma leaks through like a volcano.