Each year, over 1,200 tornadoes strike American soil. That's more than anywhere else in the world. Here's why the US has the most twisters.
twisters annually. Compared to more than 1,200 that strike American soil. So, what makes the US so special?
To make a tornado, you need just the right mix of ingredients: Warm, humid air near the ground. Cold air higher up in the atmosphere. And wind that overlaps while moving at different speeds or directions. Believe it or not, few places on Earth check all of these boxes. And none compares to the Great Plains of the United States — AKA, tornado alley.So the Gulf of Mexico is actually the warmest body of water on earth at its latitude.
When the two winds come together, they can create a vortex of wind that spins horizontally. Now, here's where that warm air is key. As it rises — as warm air likes to do — it tilts the tube vertical to form a rotating storm called a supercell. And up to 20% of supercells spawn tornadoes.Anywhere where you can find warm water that's equator-ward of some area that also finds itself downwind of a major mountain chain, tornadoes tend to be an elevated risk.Take Bangladesh, for example.
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