Whats the difference between a tornado and a funnel cloud?
Funnel clouds are rotating columns of air not in contact with the ground. However, the violently rotating column of air may reach the ground very quickly, becoming a tornado. If there is debris being picked up or blown around by the “funnel cloud” then the rotating column of air has already reached the ground and it’s a tornado. How are tornadoes and waterspouts different? Waterspouts are weak tornadoes that form over warm water. Waterspouts are most common along the Gulf Coast and southeastern US coastline. Waterspouts occasionally move inland, as soon as the base of the rotating column of air moves over land the waterspout becomes a tornado. How strong are tornadoes? While most tornadoes (69%) have winds of less than 100 miles an hour, they can be much much stronger. Violent tornadoes (winds greater than 205 miles an hour) account for only 2% of all tornadoes, they cause 70% of all tornado deaths. In 1931, a tornado in Minnesota lifted an 83-ton railroad train with 117 passengers and
