Tornadoes

Tornadoes are natural disasters that are responsible for part of the world death toll each year. The enormous damage that tornadoes usually leave behind affects many aspects of the public health and economic stability of a region or a country.

The most prevalent health impact that tornadoes cause are injuries from flying debris, fractures, head injuries, cervical spine trauma, psychological trauma, wound infections, lower hygiene due to home displacement, or outbreaks of infectious diseases. Tornadoes can form anywhere in the world and so far have been detected in every continent except Antarctica.

Many long-lived tornadoes appear to have similar life cycles. Such tornadoes first appear as a rotating column of dust on the ground. A funnel cloud then appears to build downward from the cloud base. When the funnel cloud is nearly vertically oriented, widest, and in contact with the ground, the tornado is most intense.

 Later in its life the tornado condensation funnel narrows and becomes more tilted; however, it is not necessarily much less intense at this stage. Finally, the funnel disappears as a gust front from the parent storm or a neighboring storm upends the tornado and surrounds it with evaporatively cooled air.