What do tornadoes look like on the inside? – Madison, age 7, Noblesville, Indiana
Scientists really don’t know the answer to this question. There are no visual observations from inside of a tornado, because these storms create very violent and dangerous conditions on the ground.
If we placed cameras in the path of a tornado, they would either be damaged by the strong winds and swirling debris, or become so caked with mud and water that they wouldn’t produce any useful pictures. And of course, it’s not safe for humans to try to observe tornadoes at close range. It’s important to always seek shelter when tornado conditions develop.
We do have some ideas about the structure of the inside of tornadoes from instruments called mobile Doppler radars. Scientists can drive these instruments to locations near the tornado, but stop at a safe distance.
The radar sends energy toward the tornado, and when it hits the storm, some of the energy is bounced back. Researchers can analyze that reflected energy to detect important characteristics about the tornado. These include where there is and is not rain within the storm, where there is debris, how fast the winds are, and how these properties change moving away from the center of the tornado toward its outer edges and up vertically through the storm cloud above it.
Researchers use mobile radar to study tornadoes and other kinds of storms across the U.S.
From these radar observations, we have learned that tornadoes usually have a clear area in their centers, or at least a zone that is rain- and debris-free. This area also has intense vertical winds that sometimes are strong enough to suck pavement up from roads.
This clear space is surrounded by a ring of heavy rain and debris that is often moving outward, away from the tornado’s center. That’s because the winds are spinning incredibly fast and creating centrifugal force that pulls these objects away from the middle of the storm. Sometimes areas of heavy rain that are a little farther removed from the tornado spiral inward toward the area of rotation, like the spiral bands that extend outward from the eye of a hurricane.
Some tornadoes have only one main funnel cloud. Others have multiple small funnels that rotate around each other. There are even tornadoes that don’t have a funnel cloud at all. As long as winds are rotating in a tight circle all the way from the storm cloud down to the ground, it’s a tornado, even if atmospheric conditions haven’t condensed water vapor in the air into a visible funnel.
Scientists have also learned that many tornadoes don’t actually descend from the cloud to the ground. Rather, they form at the ground and quickly build upward — often in less than a minute.
Tornadoes can form at the ground before radar detects rotating winds at low levels.
When that happens, your eyes may fool you if you’re watching for a funnel cloud coming down from the sky. There could already be tornado-strength winds at the surface, even without that funnel cloud. So be careful — when it comes to tornadoes, looks can be deceiving.
Hello, curious kids! Do you have a question you’d like an expert to answer? Ask an adult to send your question to CuriousKidsUS@theconversation.com. Please tell us your name, age and the city where you live.
And since curiosity has no age limit — adults, let us know what you’re wondering, too. We won’t be able to answer every question, but we will do our best.
Jana Houser receives funding from the National Science Foundation.
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license.
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AP Photo/Charlie Riedel
In this May 25, 2011, photo, Beverly Winans hugs her daughter Debbie Surlin while salvaging items from Winans' devastated home in Joplin, Missouri. The deadliest tornado to hit the United States in the last several decades struck on May 22, 2011, leveling a miles-wide swath of Joplin and leaving 161 people dead.
AP Photo/Charlie Riedel
In this May 25, 2011, photo, Beverly Winans hugs her daughter Debbie Surlin while salvaging items from Winans' devastated home in Joplin, Missouri. The deadliest tornado to hit the United States in the last several decades struck on May 22, 2011, leveling a miles-wide swath of Joplin and leaving 161 people dead.
Tuscaloosa Fire Lt. Brian Phillips climbs a pile of rubble in search of survivors or bodies at an apartment building in Tuscaloosa, Ala., after 362 tornadoes hit the southeastern United States over three days in April 2011, killing an estimated 321 people. Alabama was the hardest hit, with a death toll of more than 250 in that state alone.
AP Photo/Dave Martin
Tuscaloosa Fire Lt. Brian Phillips climbs a pile of rubble in search of survivors or bodies at an apartment building in Tuscaloosa, Ala., after 362 tornadoes hit the southeastern United States over three days in April 2011, killing an estimated 321 people. Alabama was the hardest hit, with a death toll of more than 250 in that state alone.
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AP Photo/Danny Johnston
New cars and trucks at a Chevrolet dealership sit under the wreckage from a tornado that hit Mountain View, Ark., on Feb. 5, 2008. The so-called Super Tuesday outbreak of 87 tornadoes in the southeastern United States killed 57 people.
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AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis
An American flag waves from a makeshift flag pole in front of a concrete slab that once was a house in Louisville, Miss., after an April 28, 2014, tornado destroyed the house. An outbreak of dozens of tornadoes, stirred up by a powerful storm system, hit the Southeast and Midwest over a three-day period in April 2014 and killed 32 people in Iowa, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Mississippi, Alabama and Tennessee.
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AP Photo/Alonzo Adams
A tornado killed 24 people on May 20, 2013, in Moore, Oklahoma. The tornado had winds over 200 miles per hour, giving it the most severe rating of EF-5.
This March 1925 photo shows an overturned house that was carried more than 50 feet from its foundation following a tornado in Griffen, Ind. The March 18 tornadoes that hit Missouri, Illinois and Indiana killed nearly 700 people, topping the list of the deadliest tornadoes in the United States.
AP Photo
This March 1925 photo shows an overturned house that was carried more than 50 feet from its foundation following a tornado in Griffen, Ind. The March 18 tornadoes that hit Missouri, Illinois and Indiana killed nearly 700 people, topping the list of the deadliest tornadoes in the United States.
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AP Photo
Bolstered by heavy equipment, workers start the gigantic task of cleaning up wreckage remaining in the downtown area of Waco, Texas, in the aftermath of a May 11, 1953, tornado. It was one of the top 10 deadliest tornadoes in U.S. history, killing 114 people.
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AP Photo/Darron Cummings
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AP Photo/Mike Gullett
A vehicle was dumped along highway 86 north of Racine, Mo., by a tornado that hit the area in southwest Missouri on May 10, 2008. Fourteen people were killed and hundreds injured in the tornado.
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AP Photo/Kevin Sanders
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AP Photo/Seth Perlman
Family members and friends try to salvage what they can on Feb. 29, 2012, in Harrisburg, Ill., after a tornado destroyed their neighborhood homes. The devastating EF4 tornado claimed eight lives.
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AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki
Three-year-old Brooklyn Hickman helps look through the rubble of her grandfather's trailer home in Lone Grove, Okla., on Feb. 11, 2009, after a tornado struck, killing eight people. Weather woes including an unusual series of February twisters were among the top Oklahoma news stories of that year.
Downed traffic lights are seen after an EF3 tornado struck on April 28, 2011, in Glade Spring, Va. Three people were killed, and several homes and truck stops along I-81 were severely damaged.
AP Photo/Jeff Gentner
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As dawn broke on June 8, 1984, rescuers got their first view of a destroyed Barneveld in Wisconsin. An F5 tornado ripped through the village, killing nine people and destroying most of the small community. The powerful tornado had winds over 300 mph.
Wisconsin State Journal photo
As dawn broke on June 8, 1984, rescuers got their first view of a destroyed Barneveld in Wisconsin. An F5 tornado ripped through the village, killing nine people and destroying most of the small community. The powerful tornado had winds over 300 mph.
Photos of destruction from the 1955 tornado that destroyed Udall, Kan., are displayed in the town's museum. The May 1955 tornado is among the top 25 deadliest in U.S. history, killing 80 people.
AP Photo/Charlie Riedel
Photos of destruction from the 1955 tornado that destroyed Udall, Kan., are displayed in the town's museum. The May 1955 tornado is among the top 25 deadliest in U.S. history, killing 80 people.
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AP Photo/Charles Wilson
People clear debris from a farm field on the outskirts of Marysville, Ind., after a tornado with 150 mph winds raked through the southern Indiana hamlet on March 2, 2012. The storm was part of a tornado outbreak that left 13 people dead in southern Indiana.
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AP Photo/Dave Weaver
Several buildings sit damaged Oct. 5, 2013, in Wayne, Neb., after a deadly storm system that buried parts of Wyoming and South Dakota in heavy, wet snow also brought powerful thunderstorms packing tornadoes to the Great Plains, causing millions of dollars in damage. Some of the greatest damage from tornadoes was in Wayne, a town of 9,600.
Steve Jones lifts his grandfather's headstone into place at the Stockton City Cemetery in Stockton, Mo., after most of the headstones and nearly all the trees in the cemetery were knocked over by a May 4, 2003, tornado that killed five people.Â
AP Photo/John S. Stewart
Steve Jones lifts his grandfather's headstone into place at the Stockton City Cemetery in Stockton, Mo., after most of the headstones and nearly all the trees in the cemetery were knocked over by a May 4, 2003, tornado that killed five people.Â
Remains of a ranger's house can be seen after a tornado ripped through the Little Sioux Scout Ranch in the remote Loess Hills, Iowa, on June 11, 2008. The EF3 tornado killed four people.
AP Photo/Loren Sawyer - Onawa Sentinel
Remains of a ranger's house can be seen after a tornado ripped through the Little Sioux Scout Ranch in the remote Loess Hills, Iowa, on June 11, 2008. The EF3 tornado killed four people.
People sort through debris of a destroyed house after a July 8, 2014, storm, in Smithfield, N.Y. The National Weather Service confirmed that a tornado destroyed homes in upstate New York where four people were killed.
AP Photo/Mike Groll
People sort through debris of a destroyed house after a July 8, 2014, storm, in Smithfield, N.Y. The National Weather Service confirmed that a tornado destroyed homes in upstate New York where four people were killed.
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AP Photo/Mark Humphrey
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AP Photo/Mark Humphrey
An overturned tree sits in front of a tornado-damaged home Dec. 11, 2021, in Mayfield, Ky. On Dec. 10-11, violent and rare December tornadoes ripped across Kentucky and several other states. Kentucky’s death toll alone from the storms is now 80. All together, the storms killed more than 90 people in five states. The National Weather Service recorded at least 41 tornadoes on Dec. 10 and 11, including 16 in Tennessee and eight in Kentucky. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, eight states — Kentucky, Arkansas, Tennessee, Missouri, Illinois, Georgia, Ohio and Indiana — reported tornadoes.
A tornado in Turkey, Texas. Jana Houser, CC BY-ND 
