Michael Allaby - Tornadoes

Michael Allaby - Tornadoes, Książki USA

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Dangerous Weather
Tornadoes
Revised Edition
Michael Allaby
ILLUSTRATIONS by Richard Garratt
For Ailsa
—M.A.
To my late wife, Jen, who gave me inspiration
and support for almost 30 years
—R.G.
Tornadoes, Revised Edition
Copyright © 2004, 1997 by Michael Allaby
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any
form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying,
recording, or by any information storage or retrieval systems, without
permission in writing from the publisher. For information contact:
Facts On File, Inc.
132 West 31st Street
New York NY 10001
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Allaby, Michael.
Tornadoes / Michael Allaby ; illustrations by Richard Garratt.—Rev. ed.
p. cm.—(Dangerous weather)
Includes index.
ISBN 0-8160-4796-0 (hardcover : acid-free paper)
1. Tornadoes. I. Title.
QC955.A45 2004
551.55’3—dc21
2003006854
Facts On File books are available at special discounts when purchased in bulk
quantities for businesses, associations, institutions, or sales promotions. Please
call our Special Sales Department in New York at (212) 967-8800 or
(800) 322-8755.
You can find Facts On File on the World Wide Web at
Text design by Erika K. Arroyo
Cover design by Nora Wertz
Illustrations by Richard Garratt
Printed in the United States of America
VB Hermitage 10 987654321
This book is printed on acid-free paper.
Contents
Preface: What is a tornado?
xi
Introduction
xiii
WHEN WARM AND COLD AIR COLLIDE
1
How air masses form
1
Why warm air can hold more moisture than cold air can
2
Rising air becomes cooler, subsiding air warmer
2
Air masses and the weather they bring
3
Fronts
4
Adiabatic cooling and warming
5
Storms over the Great Plains
5
Weather fronts
6
HOW WIND CHANGES WITH HEIGHT
11
Pressure gradient
11
Air pressure, highs, and lows
12
Balance of forces acting on moving air
13
Christoph Buys Ballot and his law
14
The Ekman spiral
16
Wind and air navigation
16
THE NORTH ATLANTIC OSCILLATION
AND THE PACIFIC DECADAL OSCILLATION
20
El Niño
20
North Atlantic Oscillation
22
The NAO Index
22
The Arctic Oscillation
24
Pacific/North American pattern
24
Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO)
25
JET STREAMS
27
A ribbon of wind
27
Rossby waves
29
The index cycle
30
Thermal winds
31
The Polar Front
32
George Hadley and Hadley cells
33
Potential temperature
36
THUNDERSTORMS
37
Stability and instability
37
Evaporation, condensation, and the formation of clouds
38
Condensation and latent heat
38
Latent heat and dew point
40
Upcurrents and downcurrents
41
Inside a cumulonimbus storm cloud
42
Snow and hail
43
Birth of a thunderstorm
44
Charge separation
45
Lightning
47
SQUALL LINES
49
The final journey
49
Airships
50
The storm cloud
50
Conditions for a squall line
52
Gustnadoes
52
The squall line appears
53
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