Out of many naturally occurring phenomena, tornado can be the most destructive one. It can be unpredictable and, so, very scary. Good news is that people in meteorological departments have started understanding what tornadoes are and how they are formed. Hence, they are now quite capable of issuing a tornado alert before it is formed.

Although tornadoes are quite infamous for their destruction, they are pretty rare. They occur usually in the Midwest United States. And it may be interesting for you to know that only 1 in 1000 thunderstorms actually produce a tornado.

There are some prerequisites for a tornado to be formed from a thunderstorm. For instance, the wind direction and speed at higher altitude needs to be different from what it is at the low altitude. For instance, if the wind at 20 feet is going south, the wind at 50 feet needs to go north; and the speeds also need to be different. This change in the speed and direction of wind results in the formation of a funnel which sucks warmer air at the ground. The funnel keeps getting longer, stretching from the clouds. When it hits the ground, tornado is formed.

There are only a couple of types of tornadoes, i.e. supercell tornadoes and non-supercell tornadoes. Supercell tornadoes are more common and more dangerous type. These tornadoes are formed as a result of supercell storms in which the updrafts and downdrafts are almost equal. They may vary in speeds though. The reason these tornadoes are more dangerous is that they tend to stay active for longer period of time. The longer a tornado stays on the ground, the more devastating it is going to be.

Non-supercell tornadoes can also be dangerous but they are not as long lasting as the supercell tornadoes. Moreover, they are not quite common.

If you live in an area that receives tornadoes quite often, there must be a siren system to alert the people living in the area. Make sure that you pay proper attention to those sirens. In case you hear a siren, get to the basement as soon as you can. Basement is usually a safer area because the walls of your basement are not going to collapse as a result of tornado. Make sure that you are always away from the windows when tornado strikes your area. The glass from windows can be quite injurious. If you are living in a mobile home, make sure that you get under a storm shelter because a tornado can be too strong for a mobile home. Furthermore, it is quite important to keep an emergency survival kit prepared at home because a tornado or thunderstorm can disrupt normal life in the area.