Page 58 - (DK) Danger! Open with Extreme Caution!

MIGHTY WIND

CARNIVAL

Come one, come all! The carnival
has blown into town. There’s
stormy weather ahead, so batten
down the hatches. Step right up
and feel the power of the mightiest
winds: hurricanes, tornadoes, Hurricane
and other deadly windstorms. This intense rotating storm is born over warm
The stories behind these storms ocean waters. Bands of tall rain clouds form and grow
around a low-pressure system. Wild winds begin to
will blow you away. swirl around the calm central zone, called the eye.
Hurricanes can be up to 400 miles (650 km)
Twister Tornado to 200 mph (320 km/h) can rage for days.
in width, and their destructive winds of up
This twisty storm forms in warm, moist
air ahead of a cold front. The collision
between the high- and low-pressure
Wild
systems causes the winds to circulate
around each other in a tight spiral.
Waterspout
The tornado appears as a spinning,
funnel-shaped cloud. When
the twister touches down
on the ground, its winds can Katrina
fling cars, cows, trees, and
Tornado and reduce buildings to rubble.
people through the air

Waterspout
A weak type of
tornado that forms over
water, a waterspout is
a spinning column of
tiny water droplets
stretching from
a cloud to the sea.
The spout leaves
Going up! and waves as it
behind bubbles
zips across the
ocean. Waterspouts
are hazardous to swimmers,
boats, and small aircraft.
Fujita scale
Tornado winds can spin at 318 mph (512 km/h)—
almost half the speed of sound. The Fujita scale
is used to measure their destructive power by
studying the aftermath of a twister. It runs from
FO (little or no damage to buildings and vegetation)
to F5 (everything is as flat as a pancake).

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