Tornado Climatology
Tornado climatology refers to the study of tornadoes. A tornado is defined as a violent, dangerous, rotating column of air that is in contact with both the surface of the earth and a cumulonimbus cloud or at the base of a cumulus cloud. Tornadoes occur in many parts of the world and include places like Australia, Europe, Africa, Asia, and South America. However United States records the maximum number of tornadoes in a year. It is estimated at nearly four times that of whole of Europe.
Tornado climatology is studied for various parts of the world. The tornado season is a time where the U.S sees the most tornadoes. It is known as tornado alley and is during May and June. A detailed study is also done for the spring tornado climatology which occurs during March to May and it was developed for the eastern part of the Indian subcontinent (Bengal). It includes the regions of most of Bangladesh as well as the Indian states of Assam, Tripura, West Bengal and Orissa. The study is conducted by using information from a lot of sources and also includes an exhaustive search. Usually the tornadoes occur from late-March to early-May, with a majority in early to mid-April.
Tornado climatology studies the occurrence of the tornadoes. Tornadoes usually occur during the spring season and least common in winter. The season of autumn and spring are transitional periods there are more chances of cooler air meeting with warmer air, resulting in thunderstorms. Tornadoes are focused in the right section of landfalling tropical cyclones, which tend to occur in the late summer and autumn. Favorable conditions can occur any time of the year. The occurrence of tornadoes is highly dependent on the time of day. This is because of solar heating. The timing of the tornadoes is usually during late afternoon, between 3 pm and 7 pm local time, with a peak near 5 pm. Destructive tornadoes are those that can occur at any time of day.
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