Tornado Journal Entry

Deadly Twisters Rip Midwest (May 4, 2008)

Violent storms triggered deadly tornadoes that ripped across the Midwest on Friday. The storms and twisters were blamed for seven deaths in Arkansas and left trails of destruction in several other states.

According to the Storm Prediction Center, up to twenty-five tornadoes touched down over an area including parts of Arkansas, Oklahoma, Texas, Missouri, and Kansas.

Earlier in the week a swarm of twisters struck Virginia, where twenty-five people were hurt and hundreds of homes were destroyed.

Tornadoes usually result from the collision of two huge air masses. In the United States, cold, dry air from Canada or the Rockies slams into warm, humid air rising from the Gulf of Mexico. The colliding air masses can create a funnel cloud of violent winds surrounding an area of extremely low barometric pressure. The cloud becomes a tornado when it touches the ground.

The United States gets struck with more tornadoes than anywhere else on the planet. Most occur in the spring and summer months. They are most common in the central and southern parts of the country. About 800 tornadoes touch down in the U.S. every year, killing an average of 80 people and injuring 1,500 others. The most violent twisters have wind speeds of over 250 mph (400 km/h).