Thread: tornadoes?

is it possible tornadoes could be attracted to cities and roads due to the heat in pavement?

Originally Posted by hithanka

is it possible tornadoes could be attracted to cities and roads due to the heat in pavement?

Attracted? I don't think they are attracted to anything, even if people do seem to think they hunt down mobile home parks. There have been tornadoes in big cities but it seems they tend to happen more frequently out in rural to semi-rural areas.

Tornadoes are caused when you have an upper level low pressure air mass that is very cold over a humid low level high pressure air mass that is warm and humid.

I can see why you would think they are attracted to hot surfaces but attraction is not an accurate term. If a thunderstorm is in the area and it comes over an area of intense surface heat, then yes, this added heat can add to the strength of the storm and increase the odds of a tornado forming. But a tornado is not attracted to hot surfaces. If the heat goes away, the tornado dies, and that is ultimately how the lifecycle of the tornado works. It is hot humid air rising as cold dry air drops creating a cyclone.

The cyclone will stay just a storm in the sky unless it becomes very organized and a rear flank downdraft develops causing the cyclone to become vertical and forming a funnel.

A tornado isn't a tornado unless it's carrying Sharks.

Originally Posted by hithanka

is it possible tornadoes could be attracted to cities and roads due to the heat in pavement?

Interesting thought. But based on minimal understanding. Don't be offended, we all have minimal understanding of most things. No expert on weather am I, or even weather study, I think tornadoes are not "attracted", but rather tend to form because of conditions prevalent in the area at the time, regardless of proximity to cities, or other "heat islands".

Your thought shows "thinking continuity", the kind of introspective wonder I appreciate a lot! Keep it up! jocular

Originally Posted by Neverfly

A tornado isn't a tornado unless it's carrying Sharks.

Pssh, that's nothing.

Since tornado's only form with hot weather conditions and never in cold why not drop dry ice into the center of them to cool it down thereby making it dissipate. Of course you'd need allot of dry ice which may be impractical.

There isn't much difference between cities and rural areas for tornado genesis, though there's higher detection simply because there are more people to see them. There's a slight and measurable increase storm and mesocyclones downwind of large cities that appears to be linked to increased condensation/freezing nucleation aerosols.

Originally Posted by hithanka

is it possible tornadoes could be attracted to cities and roads due to the heat in pavement?

typhoons on Big Island and that theory?

NOPE