Naked Science Forum
Life Sciences => The Environment => Topic started by: cheryl j on 25/11/2011 05:41:13
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Sorry if this has been asked a zillion times but I still want to know. You never hear of of a twenty story sky scraper being wrecked by a tornado, only suburbs and trailor parks.
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Perhaps you just don't get the right conditions near sky scrapers? The air has to be able to circulate to start the twisting characteristic of tornadoes - maybe the buildings interfer with that?
Piece on tornadoes here http://www.labnews.co.uk/features/extreme-earth-tornadoes/
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But they can, Saltlake City in 1999 and Chicago in May 1876 and April 1967.
Look here (http://www.crh.noaa.gov/lot/severe/SigChiTorn.php).
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St. Louis was hit by several tornadoes that hopped and jumped across the city this spring, including hitting the airport pretty heavily, although I don't remember reports of them hitting the downtown area.
I think the reason trailer parks are considered tornado magnets is that the trailer parks are affected worse by the tornadoes than other areas.
A tornado that will take a few shingles off of ordinary houses will turn a trailer park upside down.
A tornado that will flatten a few frame houses will toss trailer houses around like foam popcorn packing in front of a fan.
What do you think the media likes more? Photos of a trailer park wiped out, or a few citizens concerned about replacing scattered roofing shingles?
Skyscrapers are designed to withstand 100+ MPH winds.
The "Twin Towers" took the impact of a Boeing 747 jumbo-jet crashing into them. They were only brought down by the fire resulting from the jets carrying full fuel tanks at the time of the collision. Consider what a trailer park would have looked like with a 747 plowing through it.
It is possible that the tall buildings would help dissipate a tornado that has formed a bit faster. However, keep in mind that the downtown areas also cover much less land than the suburbs, or the rural areas around cities.
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They're attracted to trailer parks and downtown areas don;t have alot of these,