LiveScience Image Gallery

Tornado Country

NOAA Photo Gallery

In it’s Beginning Stage

Roff OK, 2 May 1984, looking NW. Another "rope" tornado in its dissipating stage. The dense gray area behind the tornado is composed of shafts of heavy rain and hail. Diligent spotting of rain-wrapped mesocyclones is important, because their tornadoes are often very hard to visually distinguish from the precipitation itself. The Roff tornado produced F2 damage. Click to enlarge.
Oklahoma Lightning

Gathering Strength

A tornado quickly builds strength as it is slated to touch the ground shortly. Click to enlarge.
Richard Blakeslee, Global Hydrology Center, Marshall Space Flight Center

In the Mix

NASA's DC-8 research airplane sits on the tarmac of the Jacksonville Naval Air Station as a waterspout forms in the distance, the result of a severe line of thunderstorms, which developed along the eastern seabreeze front. Tornadoes over water waterspouts frequently are observed forming in the absence of convection or apparent strong surface temperature differences. Click to enlarge.
Oklahoma Lightning

Making the Connection

A powerful tornado makes its way on the land. Interestingly enough, “in order for a vortex to be classified as a tornado, it must be in contact with the ground and the cloud base.” Click to enlarge.
NSSL Photo Gallery

Wales Killer Tornado

This tornado, rated F4, developed during the afternoon of April 27, 1984, killing one person, and injuring 14 in Waukesha County. The tornado was one of several in the state that developed ahead of a strong cold front. Click to enlarge.
NOAA Photo Gallery

On the Way to Union City

A long spiral tornado approaches Union City, OK. Click to enlarge.
NSSL Photo Gallery

Textbook Tornado

Alfalfa OK, 22 May 1981, looking NNW. A "textbook" tornado extending from the wall cloud of a classic supercell, with a "clear slot" cutting through the cloud base around the near side of the wall cloud. The slot represents part of the occlusion downdraft, an arc of sinking air believed to contribute to tornado development in many cases. The tornado did damage rated at F2. Click to enlarge.
NOAA Photo Gallery

Sound Chase Project

Tornado with dust and debris cloud forming at surface. The photo was captured during "Sound Chase", a joint project of NSSL and Mississippi State University. Click to enlarge.
NSSL Photo Gallery

Tornado Releases its Fury

Mayfield OK, 16 May 1977, looking N. Large tornado, which produced F2 damage to homes, and also destroyed two trailers and a few barns. The white streak at upper left is a falling hailstone. This was part of one of the most active storm intercept weeks ever seen in Oklahoma and the Texas Panhandle -- the legendary "Seven Days of May" in 1977. Click to enlarge.
NOAA Photo Gallery

The Dimmitt Tornado

Tornado captured during NOAA Project Vortex. The photo was taken south of Dimmit, Texas, in June 1995. Click to enlarge.
NOAA Photo Gallery

On the Horizon

A large tornado builds up steam and storms straight forward. Click to enlarge.
NASA

Big Spinner

Tornadoes are low pressure systems, and can generate wind velocities that can exceed 200 mph. Severe ones will flatten buildings (tornadoes have a special fondness for trailer parks), uproot trees, and carry objects for hundreds of feet to even miles from their spot of origin. On May 27, 1997 several lines of storm clouds bearing multiple funnel clouds crossed central Texas with deadly results. Here is a GOES-8 image of these advancing fronts. Click to enlarge.
NOAA Photo Gallery

Approaching Dallas

Tornado clouds swirl as fast as hundreds of kilometers per hour and, when they touch down, can destroy nearly everything in their long, narrow path. Many tornadoes last only a few minutes, but the largest and most dangerous can endure for hours. The above image, although somewhat unfocussed, appears to show a dropping funnel cloud interacting with a light pole. If so, and this interpretation is controversial, this photograph would be one of the few indicating a clear distance to the funnel cloud. The pictured tornado occurred in 1981 in Dallas, Texas, USA. Click to enlarge.
NOAA Photo Gallery

Deadly Twister

This tornado's swirling motion picks up steam near a local petroleum stop. Click to enlarge.
NSSL Photo Gallery

Storm Chasers

El Reno OK, 30 April 1978, looking W. This photo was shot from the back of a storm intercept vehicle while fleeing a tornado, which developed almost directly overhead. In other words, the chasers became the chased. The tornado touched down on a small house a few hundred feet away, pulling its roof off and scattering all manner of boards, shingles and other debris through the air. Click to enlarge.
NOAA Photo Gallery

Historical Perspective

Shown above is the oldest known photograph of a tornado taken near Howard, South Dakota, on August 28, 1884. Click to enlarge.