what was the worst tornado in the U.S.?
117685
isn't that knda obvious? (wy are tha gud lookin guys clueless?)(j/p, j/p)
916746
I've been in a tornado. It is quite an experience alright. This tornado wasn't too wide, maybe 100 yards - and moving across the ground at about 30 mph. It came right at our house and lifted just slightly as it passed overhead. The houses in front of my house were gone, the houses behind my house had their roofs ripped off. My brother was watching the rain hit the picture window, and when it was on top of us, the window was just white from the water - you could see nothing. I was on the front porch when it hit. Just like that the  picture window came crashing thru the house giving my brother 2 huge black eyes. The pressure of the air was pushing the porch door so hard, I couldn't open it. My mom was inside trying to pull the door open - I was pushing. We could only see each other through the glass window in the door. I was hanging on the doorknob for dear life :-) I felt myself get very light and my feet almost came off the porch when the glass in the door broke. Me and my mom grabbed each other through the broken window. I was already blinded by debris and I think that's why I wasn't blinded by the glass. I already had my eyes closed. I was shattered with flying glass - My face and arms had cuts all over. When the door window broke, it 'released' the pressure holding it closed and we were able to open the door. My mom was trying to get my brother and sister down into the basement. The room had about 2 feet of water in it. Everything was floating. The tornado was right overhead. The whole house was shaking. It was a really loud sound. We were just able to get into the basement and stuff came flying into the house. Rocks, wood, etc. It lasted about 3 minutes - and then we came out of the basement just in time to see the houses behind us getting clobbered. I was on the front porch watching it come at us, but was just facinated at the destruction it was causing before it hit. I can laugh now - but no one was laughing when it hit. :-) I'll never forget the look on my brother and sister face when that picture window crashed down on them - I'll never forget the panic look in my mom's face.\nYa wanna hear something ironic? About 8 years later I was drafted into the Viet Nam War, so I enlisted in the Air Force before the Army could get me. I ended up being a weatherman and was assigned to chasing tornados to launch weatherballoons into them along 'Tornado Alley' (nickname for route 66 from Chicago to Oklahoma where the most tornados occur). Funny thing, being a tornado chaser wasn't even close to being in one - not even close.  :-)
1085318
There are a couple reasons.  First off, Texas is the second-largest state in the US, next to Alaska.  So, there is more area in the state for tornadoes to occur.\n\nSecondly, Texas is right in the heart of Tornado Alley.  This is a place in the continental US where the airflow is just right for supercell thunderstorms (tornado-causing storms) to form, with warm, moist air rolling off of the Gulf of Mexico, dry air coming from the Mojave Desert, and cool air flowing off of the Rockies.  The combination of these air masses provide a lot of atmospheric instability, prompting thunderstorms.\n\nDue to the winds around Texas/Oklahoma, the storms are more likely to be supercells, and more likely to form tornadoes.\n\nTexas might have the most number of tornadoes in a given year, but Oklahoma actually has the most tornadoes per unit area in the US because of the wind patterns being even better for tornado formation there.
782180
The tornado picks up tons of debris,and the howling winds\ncreate the most of the sound.\n            Old Fujita Scale:                New Fujita Scale:\nF-0       40-72 mph                           65-85 mph\nF-1      73-112 mph                          86-110 mph\nF-2     113-157 mph                       111-135 mph\nF-3     158-206 mph                       136-165 mph\nF-4      207-259 mph                      166-200 mph\nF-5      260-318 mph                      More than 200 mph
677757
Often wind damage that's blamed on tornadoes is actually done by winds coming down from a shower or thunderstorm. \nSuch "microburst" winds can reach more than 150 mph. In a tornado, the air is rising as it swirls around the vortex.\n\nIn the U.S. such microbursts are common from the Western Rockies eastward.. why? because that is where the rains are more prevalent
51152
Natural disaster...tornado, earthquake, etc.
442765
On May 9, 2003, just a few years after the tornado hit Moore and Oklahoma City, another hit Moore in almost the same path.  The next night, a tornado hit my hometown (Bethany, OK) and ran right by my house.  I was working for a college newspaper and decided to cover the damage that night.  When I left the house and got into my car, I turned towards the tornado and saw it rip through NW OKC.  Something I hope to never see again.
615131
I have. I took pictures of this one that came right by my house. This tornado was in Tennesse so it was big for us down here. Also a few years ago a twister came through part of my town and destroyed the school i was going to. Since my town is so small and my school is so small we had class in our courthouse.
274780
I would say based on observations in the newspaper(since I live not too far away from the Colorado high plains which are next to Nebraska) and based on the tornado graph printed in the tornado graph linked in my other post, that from November to February are the least active.
466630
try this site http://www.howstuffworks.com/tornado.htm
481590
Tornadoes are created from severe Thunderstorms. They occur when a high pressure front meets head on with a low pressure front. No where is this more evident than in our mid-west, otherwise known as tornado alley, from the Canadian provinces to the Gulf of Mexico. Here, the Siberian express from Canada meets the warm tropical front from the Gulf of Mexico.
117968
There is no official tornado season because they can occur at any time. Unofficially, though, the months of spring and early summer usually have the highest rate of tornado activity, particularly in the Midwest.
686091
In the United States (and predominately worldwide), the intensity of a tornado is measured on the Fujita-Pearson Tornado Scale (also known simply as Fujita scale).
1157667
The land in the central United States is the best breeding ground for the storms which produce tornadoes. The land in the Great Plains is relatively flat, which allows cold dry polar air from Canada to meet warm moist tropical air from the Gulf of Mexico. It's along the front between the two airmasses that most tornadoes form. \n\nMost tornadoes in the United States form in an area called "Tornado Alley". This area includes parts of Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, and Nebraska. Storm chasers travel to this area because of the high concentration of tornadoes. These tornadoes are formed by thunderstorms. Some of the tornadoes in the southern states such as Florida, South Carolina, and Georgia are caused by hurricanes.
570860
I saw a tornado in '90 when I lived out in Indiana - was the loudest noise I ever heard and I never want to hear again.  The sky was all weird too - a greenish-black.  As a native new englander I was pretty freaked out.\n\nI've been in a few hurricanes here in CT worst being Gloria in 1985.  The wind gets bad.. trees bent all the way to the ground..rain lashing against the house.  Then you get an eerie calm period in the eye and it starts all over again.  Luckily we don't get them as bad as the south.. I really feel for them!  Did a lot of damage.. had no power for a week.  Trees were broken, houses damaged severely.  I was out of high school for a week because all the electrical lines to the school were torn out.  \n\nI have been through more than my share of Nor'Easters too (snow storm indigenous to New England that pulls moisture from the Atlantic and brings it in from the northeast).  I've seen Nor'easters that have dumped 2-3 feet of snow in one shot.
587200
!!!!!!TORNADOES!!!!!!\n\nur siting right next 2 me hahahahaha!!!!
982575
In my country it's called tropical cyclones. Firinga & Hollanda are the worst ones i have witnessed but before my birth there were three deadly ones: Carol, Claudette & Gervaise