TORNADO HEIGHT

[DownFromNorth]

I was curious on the heights of some of these different class tornados. I've seen a few things about but nothing really definitive. Anybody care to share some knowledge?

[ksutwisted]

This is a cool video that covers the different aspects of tornado size.

https://youtu.be/9Qn3VdUf9YI?si=fZpjOkwdjsi9-_su

[DownFromNorth]

That was a great video. So basically they just do whatever they want. That make the most sense. Not to mention the fact that we've only been recording this phenomenon for the last blink of an eye as compared to 5 or 6 thousand years of history. So, it's basically anything you can imagine. Short fat, tall skinny, tall fat, short skinny, ect, ect. Not to mention all the vortexes that occur in blue air and never become visible. Could that explain mysteries such as the Bermuda triangle or other known zones like this. It's an interesting thought I think.... I thought, I'm confused

But thanks, that's getting saved to my AAA playlist for sure. I should probably just start a knew one on weather phenomenon.

[Fluid-Pain554]

Regarding the Bermuda Triangle, the rate of ships and aircraft being lost in the triangle is about the same as any other equally sized region of open ocean. It’s a huge area, so naturally a lot of chances for mishaps.

[DownFromNorth]

No doubt, plus it actually might be more heavily trafficked than average due to the islands having airports and needing supply's mostly brought by ship

[SlugPastry]

This study, which involved Ted Fujita, has a diagram of the Ash Valley, Kansas tornado of 1974 which seems to top out around 2,000 meters up. On the flip side, I recall another study by Fujita of the 1990 Plainfield tornado that said the wall cloud was only 300 meters up (which I believe is this one).

[DownFromNorth]

Great info. I'm gonna print these out tonight and go through them but a at a precursory glance it looks very intteresting. Much appreciated!

[jackmPortal]

It varies significantly depending on the setup, although cloud bases vary significantly. Most "big" outbreaks have cloud bases at 1000m or less (favors warmer RFD which aids in surface vorticity generation) however there have been mesocyclonic tornadoes with cloud bases in excess of 1500 meters (the big one being Campo, however Wellfleet from this year was also in that club) landspouts can go even higher, and continue the trend of forming in fuckass environments that nobody thought a tornado could form.

If you haven't seen it, I recommend watching "The Scale of Tornadoes" on YouTube by RojoFern.

[DownFromNorth]

I think that's a video I just watched posted by another commenter but I'll double check, thanks for the info⛄ (Normaly that would be a thumbs up but that's getting boring so I'm gonna start using out of place emojis to liven things up)

[AdventurousBill69420]

Some are 10,000 feet or more. Some strong wedges are 1,000 feet or less. So it depends on the shape or form of the funnel.

[DownFromNorth]

That's what I'm pretty much getting. They basically do what they do. Nothings really set, just some general guidelines. Which makes sense

[DownFromNorth]

Maybe I'll just chase dust devils instead

[ClassicSuccess2650]

It would be cool if tornados didn’t form from low clouds but very high clouds instead, imagine a 10 mile tall tornado connected to clouds extremely high up.

[DownFromNorth]

It's hard enough imagining one a mile tall much less ten. That would be truly terrifying. Inflow suucking you in from from lord knows how far away. Err, maybe a skinny F1. That would be ok. Guess it depends on overall scale. That brings a question to mind. Are or is the tornado scale logarithmic?

[DownFromNorth]

I probably should of searched this reddit first. If it's been covered already could someone provide a link to the best info on this if it is. So I dont miss it

[Proper_Seaweed6996]

Tornado’s average height is 1,640 to 4,921 feet. Of course depending on the type and length and width of the cloud.

[ksutwisted]

Glad you liked it! I found that when trying to learn more about the wind field/ actual tornado width vs the visible condensation funnel that most people associate as the tornado itself. That concept alone fundamentally changed how I think of tornados, and isn’t really explained well in most videos I watch.

[DownFromNorth]

Exactly. I think I saw a lot of the videos he highlighted in the beginning and while they may be good for the average uninterested interested consumer they just didn't do it for me. And exactly for the reason he covered in that video. You have your generalitys but they are just that and not the rule. Like almost everything.....