THE LATEST string of tornados to hit the United States has proved devastating, but is this as bad as it can get? Probably not, experts say.
More than 80 people were killed on Friday after several tornados ripped through at least six states.
The storms were so intense and the damage so great that experts have called it"historic," and "legendary."
Despite the rarity of last week's twisters, the United States gets about 1,500 tornadoes a year, on average, with normally about 25 occurring in December.
However, as common as tornados are, meteorologists still struggle to fully understand these atmospheric superstorms.
In particular, scientists are trying to better understand why any given scenario produces a tornado.
As there are a lot of small-scale factors at play when a tornado forms, it can be hard to know exactly which one is aiding in its development.
The link between climate change and twisters is also not fully understood.
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To better understand tornados and how they might impact us in the future, The Sun spoke with William A. Gallus, Jr., a professor of meteorology at Iowa State University.
Here's what he told us.
What is the worst-case tornado scenario in the US?
Probably the worst-case scenario is to have a maximum strength tornado, EF5 rating on the Enhanced Fujita Scale, move through a large densely-populated city, like Chicago, perhaps at rush hour when traffic is moving slowly.
At least one prior study suggested the death toll in such an event could be many thousands of people, and damage would likely be over ten billion dollars.
If the tornado happened after dark, that would likely increase the injuries and deaths.
What is the worst possible tornado that Earth could sustain?
Our rating scale only gets applied up to EF5, which corresponds to an estimated wind over 200 mph.
I have not seen research on what the earth's climate could support, but very little survives an EF5, so it probably doesn't matter.
Once winds get much greater than 200 mph, there is little difference in the damage because it is total in both cases.
A near-future climate may have more heat and humidity at low levels (and thus more thermodynamic energy) but probably less wind shear, so it is not very likely peak intensity would change much from what it is now.
What would happen if a tornado hit New York?
Like Chicago, if a violent tornado hit New York, the damage and casualties would be huge.
I would assume most of the tall buildings have been engineered to withstand EF4 or EF5 winds, but they would likely lose all or most of their glass, causing everything inside to be swept out.
Fortunately, we have not seen such strong tornadoes in the vicinity of New York in our historical record, as we have for Chicago.
Nonetheless, it is probably still possible, as violent tornadoes have hit places like Worcester, Massachusetts, and near Hartford, Connecticut.
Is meteorology technology seeing improvements when it comes to detecting tornadoes quicker?
In the last 10 years or so, the National Weather Service upgraded its radars to be dual-polarization, which has provided us with some new tools that help us to detect tornadoes more easily and therefore more quickly.
We are also studying ways to use existing radar information to try to infer what the distribution of raindrop sizes might be in the hook echo part of supercell thunderstorms that typically produce stronger tornadoes.
Do you believe one day there will be a way to technologically minimize the severity of a tornado?
I don't believe we can alter the tornadoes themselves, but there are numerous changes that can be made in how we build our buildings that would reduce the impacts of tornado strikes.
This would raise the cost of construction, however, because tornadoes are rare, there are legitimate questions about the wisdom of adding these expenses.
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