Tornado

A tornado is a violently rotating column of air extending from a thunderstorm cloud base to the ground. Its intense winds can damage buildings, uproot trees, and loft debris.

Supercell: A thunderstorm organized around a persistent, rotating updraft called a mesocyclone. Many long-lived, strong tornadoes form beneath supercells.
Thunderstorm: A storm that produces lightning and thunder, usually with heavy rain or hail. Tornadoes most often develop from thunderstorms, which supply their cloud and updraft.
Enhanced Fujita scale: A U.S. scale that rates tornado intensity from EF0 to EF5 using damage indicators and estimated wind speeds. Surveyors use it to classify a tornado after examining the damage it caused.
Tornado outbreak: A sequence of multiple tornadoes associated with the same synoptic weather system. Outbreaks can expose large regions to repeated tornado impacts within a short period.
Tornado genesis: The process by which a tornado forms and intensifies from storm-scale rotation. The pathways from broad storm rotation to a ground-reaching vortex remain incompletely understood.
Mesocyclone: A rotating updraft several kilometers wide within a thunderstorm. Its broad rotation can concentrate into the much narrower circulation of a tornado.
Updraft: An upward-moving current of air in the atmosphere. A thunderstorm's updraft supports the rotation associated with many tornadoes.
Doppler radar: Radar that measures motion toward or away from an antenna using the Doppler effect. Radar velocity patterns can reveal rotation inside a storm before a tornado is visible.
Tornado alley: An informal name for parts of the central United States with frequent tornado activity. The region's tornado risk has shaped forecasting, preparedness, and popular understanding.
Tornado forecasting: The prediction of tornado occurrence, location, timing, and intensity. Forecasters can identify favorable storms more readily than predict which will produce tornadoes.

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