Science · 6 pages · 12 min
How a tornado differs from a hurricane
A tornado is a brief thunderstorm vortex, while a hurricane is a days-long ocean cyclone.
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From the opening
A tornado is a small violent vortex that comes down from a thunderstorm and usually lasts minutes along a narrow path. A hurricane is a tropical cyclone the size of a coastal region, lasting days and drawing its energy from warm seawater, so both rotate while the scale, the life, and the engine differ. The opening covers minutes and a narrow path, days and a warm ocean, and supercell spin versus a tropical core.
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Inside
- Minutes and a narrow path
- Days and a warm ocean
- Supercell spin versus a tropical core
- Hurricanes can spawn real tornadoes
- Where the idea stops applying
- A distinction worth keeping
Sources
- Tornadoes as convective vortices in supercells
- Hurricanes as warm-core tropical cyclones