1. Thunderstorms

2.  Thunderstorms are storms with lightning and thunder.
 Tornadoes can also form during thunderstorms.

3.  Lightning is static  When the difference is
electricity. large enough, the
 Negatively charged particles try to connect
particles gather in the to each other.
cloud.
 Positively charged
particles gather on the
ground.

5.  1. Cumulus Stage
 Rising humid air forms
a cumulus cloud.
 The condensation
continues. The updraft
keeps the rain particles
in the cloud.
 The cloud continues
building into a
cumulonimbus cloud.

9. At a Cold Front Within an Air Mass
 Air is forced up quickly.  Uneven heating can
 This creates a cause convection
cumulonimbus cloud thunderstorms.
quickly.  Remember convection is
the rising and falling of
air in a cycle.

11.  A tornado is a violently rotating column of air
stretching from a cloud to the ground.
 You cannot see the air moving.
 What you DO see is the things that the tornado has
picked up or water droplets.

12.  More tornadoes occur in
North America than any
other place in the world.
 Warm air from the Gulf
of Mexico moves north
and meets cold air
masses.

14.  Most tornadoes
 Small; last only a few minutes
 May break branches or ruin billboards
 20% of tornadoes
 Knock over large trees
 Lift cars up
 1% of tornadoes
 Completely demolish sturdy buildings

15.  The path of the tornado
is impossible to predict.
 The tornado moves at
the same pace as the
thunderstorm it is
attached to.

16.  The National Weather
Service issues a “tornado
watch” when conditions
are right to form
tornadoes.
 A “tornado warning” is
issued when a tornado
has been detected.