Tornado or Hurricane? Decoding the Differences In Devastating Storms

Hurricane Beryl continued to break records before its winds even reached landfall, leave drastic impact on the area. In the backdrop of this hurricane, let us try to understand difference between Tornadoes and Hurricane.

But many wonder, despite being powerful in nature, on what basis, these phenomena differ from each other. Well, as per NASA, tornadoes and hurricane are different on the basis of its size.

Hurricane is thousand times bigger than tornadoes. Hurricane formation usually occur under different circumstances and exert different impact on atmosphere.

Tornadoes on the other hand, are a small-scale circulation, they do not exceed more than few hundred in diameter.

These Tornadoes usually come from severe thunderstorms, which are present in the region of the Central Plains in the United States characterized by strong wind shear during the spring and early summer.

These storms are usually formed from the clash between moist, warm air, which travels northward from Gulf of Mexico and cold, continental air from northwest United States.

But Tornadoes can also be formed on different places due to presence of various forcing factors like formation of landfall due to hurricane.

Another factor which differs hurricane from tornado is the wind speed. The Wind speed of tornado reaches between 100 to 300 mph, which causes huge impact on the ground, but it lasts for few minutes. Only travels short distances from 10 to 20 miles.

Hurricane on the other hand can spread on a large manner, which stretches from 60 to 1,000 miles in diameter. Unlike tornadoes, whose impact on global atmospheric circulation is largely nil, hurricane possess the ability to travel thousands of miles and stays for weeks and days.

Even though hurricanes are formed in a sporadic manner, they can influence global atmospheric circulation.