science

History of tornado research

History of tornado research is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand History of tornado research rather than just read about it. In short: The history of tornado research spans back centuries, with the earliest documented tornado occurring in 200 CE and academic studies on them starting in the 18th century. Several people throughout history are known to have researched tornadoes.

Key takeaways

History of tornado research belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
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Reproduce the core statement of History of tornado research from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

The history of tornado research spans back centuries, with the earliest documented tornado occurring in 200 CE and academic studies on them starting in the 18th century. Several people throughout history are known to have researched tornadoes. This is a timeline of government or academic research into tornadoes.

Early studies The earliest-known tornado occurred in Sardegna, Sardinia and Corsica, Roman Empire (modern-day Italy) in 200. The earliest-known German tornado struck Freising (modern day Germany) in 788. The earliest-known Irish tornado appeared on April 30, 1054, in Rostella, near Kilbeggan. The earliest-known British tornado hit central London on October 23, 1091, and was especially destructive, with modern research classifying it as an F4 on the Fujita scale. After the discovery of the New World, tornado documentation expanded into the Americas. On August 21, 1521, an apparent tornado is recorded to have struck Tlatelolco (present day Mexico City), just two days before the Aztec capital's fall to Cortés. Many other tornadoes are documented historically within the Basin of Mexico. The first confirmed tornado in the United States struck Rehoboth, Massachusetts, in August 1671. The first confirmed tornadic death in the United States occurred on July 8, 1680, after a tornado struck Cambridge, Massachusetts.

First tornadic case study

The first case study on a tornado took place following the violent 1764 Woldegk tornado, which struck around Woldegk, Duchy of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, Holy Roman Empire (modern-day Germany). Between 1764 and 1765, German scientist Gottlob Burchard Genzmer published a detailed survey of the damage path from the tornado. It covers the entire, 33km (18.6mi) long track and also includes eyewitness reports as well as an analysis of the debris and hail fallout areas. Genzmer calls the event an "Orcan" and only compares it to waterspouts or dust devils. Based on the damage survey, modern day meteorologists from the ESSL were able to assign a rating of F5, on the Fujita scale, and T11 on the TORRO scale, making it the earliest known F5 tornado worldwide. The T11 rating on the TORRO scale also places this event among the most violent tornadoes ever documented worldwide.

First studies by country In May 1820, Józef Karol Skrodzki, Professor at the University of Warsaw, read a paper describing a tornado that occurred in Mazew, Łęczyca County in Poland on August 10, 1819. It was described that the tornado had the appearance of a funnel whose color seemed different depending on the lighting, and that it damaged several buildings by tearing off roofs, damaging the structure, and lifting a hay wagon into the air. The paper was published in a collection of works by the Warsaw Society of Friends of Learning in 1821.

In 1838, the earliest recorded Asian tornado struck near the city of Calcutta in present-day West Bengal, India. It was described as moving remarkably slow across its 16-mile (26 km) path southeast over the span of 2 to 3 hours. It was recorded to cause significant damage to the area, including 3.5-pound (1.6 kg) hail being observed at the Dum Dum weather observatory. Between 1839 and 1841, a detailed survey of damage path of significant tornado that struck New Brunswick, New Jersey, on June 19, 1835, which was the deadliest tornado in New Jersey history, occurred. The path was surveyed by many scientists on account of its location between New York City and Philadelphia, including early tornado theorists James Pollard Espy and William Charles Redfield. Scientists disagreed whether there was whirling, convergent, or rotational motion. A conclusion that remains accurate today is that the most intense damage tends to be on right side of a tornado (with respect to direction of forward movement), which was found to be generally easterly. In 1840, the earliest known intensive study of a tornadic event published in Europe, by French scientist Athanase Peltier. In 1865, the first in India and earliest known scientific survey of a tornado that analyzed structure and dynamics was published by Indian scientist Chunder Sikur Chatterjee. The path damage survey of a tornado that occurred at Pundooah (now Pandua), Hugli district, West Bengal, India, was documented on maps and revealed multiple vortices, the tornadocyclone, and direction of rotation, predating work by John Park Finley, Alfred Wegener, Johannes Letzmann, and Ted Fujita.

Research by topic

Tornadogenesis

In December 1898, Dr. B. F. Duke, along with Dr. Cleveland Abbe, published a paper regarding the United States's Weather Bureau's first official theory on how tornadoes form after Duke observed the formation of a tornado near Pascagoula, Mississippi, in April 1894. This theory included that winds have to be moving in two different directions ("northerly and southerly") and that when those winds meet, they form a rapid updraft, which forms a very buoyant cloud. The buoyant cloud then will "suck up the air beneath it with such violence as to form a waterspout over the ocean or a tornado over the land and the winds immediately below it are suddenly and greatly increased". Dr. Abe then theorized that "it is possible that we may have violent whirls with horizontal axes", for the first theory of horizontal vortices within tornadoes. In 1960, Bernard Vonnegut suggested that electricity in thunderstorms may power tornadoes.

Characteristics of tornadoes

In April 1899, Dr. Cleveland Abbe, along with Professor A. W. Baker and E. L. Dinniston, published an article regarding the characteristics of tornadoes. In the study and analysis, Abbe discovered that tornadoes in the United States rotate counterclockwise, just the same as a large low-pressure system. Abbe also stated that this rotation rule for tornadoes "is almost invariable". In November 1900, S. C. Emery with the United States Weather Bureau conducted a case study, including detailed damage surveys, for a small tornado outbreak in Tennessee, Mississippi and Arkansas on November 19, 1900. In the study, Emery surveyed and mapped that one of the tornadoes "divided" into two nearly parallel parts, or that it had a "zig zag" motion, as some buildings were not damaged and others destroyed. Emery also stated he was "inclined to believe the latter explanation as more reasonable". Emery also noted one of the tornadoes had an average forward speed of 60 mph (97 km/h) and that a separate tornado travelled 215 miles (346 km).

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Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with History of tornado research

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what History of tornado research claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to History of tornado research before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about History of tornado research ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of History of tornado research

In research: History of tornado research appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses History of tornado research in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: History of tornado research is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Tornado, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for History of tornado research outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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Frequently asked questions

What is History of tornado research in simple terms?

Why does History of tornado research matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study History of tornado research?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on History of tornado research.