My father is a storm chaser and a tornado forms when warm air and cold air collide and start rotating in a circular movement. The clouds when circling begin to move towards the ground and as they move down the wind speeds change and you either get a tornado ranging from Ef1-Ef5.

* First increasing wind starts moving in opposite directions.

* Then the air starts rising up while it's rotating.

* Next strong rotation start's forming tornado.

*Lower cloud bases identifies an area of rotation.

* After a while a tornado develops.

Note: tornadoes only form when cold and hot air move in opposite directions.

Hello Arturo.

I'm Libby.  I'm in the United States. We have tornadoes a lot over here. They form when warm air and cold air mix together. They swirl around and kinda fight. They form a whirl cloud and it spins and destructs anything in its path. They are very dangerous and most times you cannot run from them. If you are in a car, get into a ditch or a lower part of land. It may change path quickly. If you are in a house, get to a basement or a bathroom. Tornadoes can come down and go back into the clouds randomly. There is another type of tornado called a water spout and I think they only form on water.

You could have a tornado anytime, I guess, if you have the right weather. So one day it has to be really hot, and then later in the day it would get really cold, or have a cold front coming in. A thunderstorm must form and then the tornado would be attached to it. The weather channel keeps you updated on all that is happening, at least over here.

Hope I helped.

-Libby

To be honest , I have not seen tornadoes in my life.

Can tornadoes form in Florida?

I know that tornadoes can form anywhere, but I think that it matters what the topography is under where the tornado forms. Tornadoes will occur wherever it’s favorable. The unsaturated air, if and when its set in motion,  moves upward. Rising higher in the sky will cause it to be cooler.  The air that is surrounding it will sink because of a convection current. The unstable air rises and becomes cooler allowing the condensation of water vapor. When the air cools and water droplets condense, the heat is released which warms the surrounding air and fuels the storm. So what I’m saying is that it is going to be cooler in a valley than on a hill. The colder air will dissipate the tornado. I don’t really mean it has that much to do with water. It kind of does with the humidity and stuff like that, because humidity is water vapor, but the humidity percentage has to be high like in the 70’s to the 100’s, which is high.  You talked about the waterspout. It’s just a tornado that is formed over water, but the water spout is not officially called a tornado until it is officially on land. Of course it may be an old wive’s tale about a tornado not being able to touch down here, but we won’t find out until it happens.  Until then, I’m going to stick with this.

Hi, my name is Lexie and I don't really agree with what you are saying, Paige. I live in the Flint Hills, too. For the last couple of weekends we have been in tornado watches and in two different towns there have been tornadoes hit the ground. Also, where I live, it is called Tornado Alley. We are one of the many states that are in Tornado Alley. Also, I was looking up waterspouts and if you live near a river or a lake or any type of body of water, then you can still encounter a columnar vortex that can move to land. That is the reason that I don't completely agree what you are saying.

I don’t think that water affects the formation of a tornado because tornadoes usually form on land as either F0’s, F1’s, F2’s, F3’s, F4’s, or F5’s. Waterspouts are similar to tornadoes, but the damage isn’t as bad, and form OVER water, but might travel to the land.
Therefore, water does not affect the formation of a tornado.

I think it happens  when a lot of hail and rain mix to form a funnel ,then it becomes a tornado!

Hey, it’s me Paige again and I was wondering what your weather is like there.  What kind of severe storms occur there?  This information will help me find out if it is possible to have a tornado there. I would also like to know if you live in a valley or not. The reason why I was wanting to know if you live in a valley or not is because where I live is in a valley and tornados can still form here, but it’s less likely because when a strong storm hits the Flint Hills the air temperature changes. The reason why that happens is because the air temperature is cooler when it is above water than when it is above land and we have a lot of ponds, rivers, and lakes in the Flint Hills.  

A tornado is formed by warm air that twists into a spiral, forming a funnel cloud, and the sky turns a dark green color. Tornados are born in thunderstorms and are often followed by hail. Tornados occur more often in late afternoon, when thunderstorms are common, and are more prevalent in spring and summer, but they can and will form at any time of the day or year. Tornadoes become visible when water droplets pulled from a storm's moist air condense or when dust and debris are taken up.

Hi, I'm Paige from Kansas and I hope to become a storm spotter or a meteorologist when I grow up. In one whole year, there can be as many as 800 tornadoes nationwide in the US.  These cause deaths, injuries, and destruction to property.  With wind speeds up to 250 mph, damage paths can be 1 mile wide and 50 miles long! Tornadoes are developed when thunderstorms develop and when warm, moist, air advances eastward moving into cold fronts. The thunderstorms produce large hail, strong winds, and tornadoes. Tornadoes that are produced in winter and early spring are usually associated with strong frontal systems that are formed in central states and these storms move east. Often tornado outbreaks occur with these weather patterns. In spring, in the central plains, thunderstorms often develop a “dry line” which divides very warm, moist, air and takes it to the east with hot, dry, air and takes it to the west. Thunderstorms that produce tornadoes are formed from the dry line as it moves east during the afternoon hours. There is a scale called the Enhanced Fujita Scale  it is used to rate tornadoes from F1 to F5. it was created by Dr. T. Theodore Fujita.  An F5 is the strongest and does the most damage.  If you are in a valley, your chances are not as strong to be hit by a tornade. Other than that, I am not sure about Guatemala.      

I believe that hot air and cold air rotate creating a tornado.

Hi! My name is Arturo and I am from Guatemala.I am a tennager. If you know something about how a tornado forms and why  it forms, please share that information.  Also, are there different types of tornadoes?   And, do you think it is possible that we could have tornados here in Guatemala?

If you have any information to share, I would appreciate it very much.

Arturo