Personal Essay: Haven's Little Tornado

What makes tornadoes and their destruction interesting to people? Is it the variety in formations, the miles one can travel, the random paths it takes, the changes tornadoes can make on climate and the formation of the land or is it because tornadoes often leave behind a path of destruction and deaths?

It was a seemingly normal, sunny day in Kansas. It did began to rain, but that was normal, rain happens everywhere. I still remember everything from what I was doing, and where I was at. This is the story of the tornado that ripped through my town in 2011.

At the headquarters of the Louisiana National Guard, located in the lower 9th ward, the soldiers were not yet aware that the canal levees were giving way. The Guard’s commander

I was flying back from Winnipeg, Manitoba a few weeks ago. Little did I know, I would make an interesting thrill seeker and a good friend with a story. I had an unexpected conversation with a photographer by the name of Matthieu Lacroix. Talking with this talented young man really opened my eyes to some of the undiscovered bravery people have hidden within them.

On May 4, 2007, the town of Greensburg, Kansas was devastated by an exceptionally strong tornado. With maximum winds estimated to be in excess of 205 miles per hour, and leaving a damage path as wide as 1.7 miles, the storm would go on to be rated a rare EF5, the first recorded in the United States since 1999. When the storm finally subsided, 95 percent of Greensburg had been destroyed, killing eleven people.

One day I woke up feeling good. I wasn't worried about anything happening until I turned on my tv. As I'm changing the channel to the news its talking about us having a tornado. I was shocked when I found out. My whole day was ruined I sure didn't see this coming . The tornado was going to hit my house less than 30 minutes. That was enough time to get all the things I would to survive the tornado. I start finding soft things because I know That I'm going to be in the closet for a while. I get my pillow to sit on. I search on Google how to survive a tornado and it pulls up different ways to survive. I finally seen how some people survived a tornado so i just put a lot of soft things in the closet. As you can see I wasn't too prepared

Tornadoes are devastating atmospheric events that affect the ecology and the lives of people in their paths. Tornadoes are defined as “a violently rotating column of air, in contact with the ground, either pendant from a cumuliform cloud or underneath a cumuliform cloud, and often (but not always) visible as a funnel cloud” (Glossary of Meterology, 2011). The Tri-state tornado was the most deadly tornado in the United States. It stayed on the ground for a total of 219 miles through areas of Missouri, Illinois, and Indiana, killed a total of 695 people, and an estimated $16.5 million in damages (National Weather Service, 2011). Luckily, the tornado’s path was largely rural farmland with scattered small towns between them. <Add thesis>

A tornado is a very complex and complicated type of outdoor vacuum. The various types of tornadoes are caused when a great size of particles become part of cloud and start releasing heat rapidly which makes it rise and create a vacuum underneath it. The air that quickly goes into the vacuum creates the center of the tornado or the tornadoes vortex. Then when the air temperature changes it causes a sudden drop in the air pressure. When the heat is being released in the vacuum it causes precipitation. The rain released is equal to the amount of heat absorbed.

It is vital for the survival of mankind that we respect and understand the severity and danger of natural forces and weather conditions. Although advances have been made in the predictions and warning systems of the National Weather Service, or NWS, we must be vigilant in our efforts to always respect what is coming. It is also imperative that we learn from the mistakes we have made in the past and grow from them. One such piece of literature which can help to do this is "Storm Warnings: The story of the a Killer Tornado", by Nancy Mathis, which depicts an amazingly horrific incident where mankind was not prepared for what was coming. The following is understanding of the events that took place on May 3rd, 1999, which showcased an amazing, and terrible, spectacle of tornadoes in Oklahoma. Furthermore we will delve into what has changed since this to better our understanding of upcoming weather related dangers as well as planning for said forces of nature.

April 27, 2011 was pretty much D-Day for the south but mostly those who resided in Alabama. Tornadoes ripped through Alabama leaving fifty-three people dead and injuring a thousand in Tuscaloosa County, Alabama.” The tornado left five thousand three hundred and sixty-two residences damaged or decimated in its path” (Prohaska, 19). The storms pre-emptily ended the semester at the University of Alabama, and many students whose permanent homes were located outside of Tuscaloosa left the city without witnessing the extent of the damage in their college town. It was known as the 2011 Super Outbreak where the tornadoes caused 11 billion dollars in damage. The duration of the tornadoes were three days, seven hours, and eighteen minutes. In total there were twenty-nine tornadoes to go through central Alabama on the day

Not one in the literal sense, but everyone has some kind of tornado in their life, something that comes and shakes everything up. It just so happens that mine came as, what I thought at the time, was an actual tornado. As it turns out, my eleven year old brain just decided to exaggerate the true circumstances.

Tornadoes are one of the deadliest and most unpredictable villains mankind will ever face. There is no rhyme or reason, no rhythm to it’s madness. Tornados are one of the most terrifying natural events that occur, destroying homes and ending lives every year. April 29th, 1995, a calm, muggy, spring night I may never forget. Jason, a buddy I grew up with, just agreed to travel across state with me so we could visit a friend in Lubbock. Jason and I were admiring the beautiful blue bonnets, which traveled for miles like little blue birds flying close to the ground. The warm breeze brushed across the tips of the blue bonnets and allowed them to dance under the perfectly clear blue sky. In the distance, however, we

Tornado was troubled as a young boy, with his father never home and his mother lying in her grave, he was depressed and lonely. When he goes to school all his classmates tease him because of his dead mother. His world started to feel like it With Tornado being alone, he grew angry. Over the next few years of his childhood, his father left him alone with nobody to tell him wrong. When he became a young adult, he couldn’t contain it anymore. He had enough. Tornado would thrash out on innocent citizens in his home, Greece. He no longer had emotions, except one. Anger.

&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;A tornado is a violent rotating column of air extending from a thunderstorm to the ground. The most violent tornadoes can produce massive destruction with wind speeds of 250 miles per hour or more. The typical tornado moves from southwest to northeast, but they have been known to move in any direction. The average forward speed of a tornado is 30 miles per hour but it may vary from stationary to 70 miles per hour. Although tornadoes occur in many parts of the world, they are found most frequently in the United States east of the Rocky Mountains during the spring and summer months. In an average year, 800 tornadoes are reported nationwide, resulting in 80 deaths and over 1,500 injuries.

A tornado is defined as a violently rotating column extending from a thunderstorm to the ground. The most violent tornadoes are capable of tremendous destruction with wind speeds of two hundred and fifty miles per hour or more. Damage paths can be more than one mile wide and fifty miles long. In an average year, eight hundred tornadoes are reported nationwide, resulting in eighty deaths and over one thousand five hundred injuries. In the body of my essay, I will tell you about types of tornadoes, where tornadoes come from, where and when tornadoes occur, the damage they inflict, variations of tornadoes, and how to detect tornadoes.