The city of Andover in Kansas (USA) was devastated by a powerful tornado with an amazing shape. A thousand buildings were miraculously destroyed with no casualties. Discover the most impressive images.
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[EN VIDÉO] A powerful tornado recreated by computer Concerned by the hundreds of tornadoes that plague the central United States each year, researchers there are trying to better understand how these devastating monsters form. Scientists have reconstructed with a supercomputer the “El Reno” tornado, one of the most powerful ever observed, which hit Oklahoma on May 24, 2011. It destroyed everything in its path over more than 100 km for nearly two hours… Thanks With this simulation, we better identify the phenomena at work.
The end of April and the beginning of May generally mark the entry into the peak of intensity of the thunderstorm and tornado season in the United States: Friday, April 29, a supercell storm generated a particularly violent tornado over Kansas, an American state regularly affected by the phenomena weather report extremes.
???? Yesterday, several tornadoes hit Kansas in the United States. The most impressive hit the town of Andover, destroying houses and injuring several people. (©Josh Wells) pic.twitter.com/1zcxxgs8m9
— Méteo Express (@MeteoExpress) April 30, 2022
The tornado, a priori classified as EF3 (with winds between 219 and 266 km / h), left traces of damage over 5 to 6 km away.
The storm responsible for the formation of the tornado also generated hailstones 10 cm in diameter. The shape of the tornado was particularly spectacular with the presence of multiple vortex helix at ground level:
More than 1,000 buildings were damaged or completely destroyed, but miraculously, no casualties were reported, probably thanks to improved warning and prevention systems: both weather forecasts and their communication in the media, but also thanks to the many videos of tornado chasers broadcast live on the social networks which alerted residents.
Highest-res drone footage of the Andover, KS #tornado which has received a preliminary rating of EF3. Note how the tornado propagates via vortex dynamics and likely terrain. Incredibly, no lives were lost by this tornado pic.twitter.com/FJDBH8TAv6
— Reed Timmer (@ReedTimmerBattery) April 30, 2022
The city of Andover has already been devastated by tornadoes several times over the past 50 years: between April 26 and 27, 1991, an EF5 tornado (with winds over 322 km/h) killed 17 people.
Le start of tornado season was particularly active in the USA, with 226 tornadoes recorded in March against an average of 80 and 193 recorded in April against an average of 178. The majority of tornadoes, and the most violent, occur around mid-May in the United States .
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