Is It True That Rain and Tornadoes Never Go Together?
Feb 28, 2010
in
Tornado Questions
When I was a kid I think I remember my mom telling me something about that rain and tornadoes couldn’t happen at the same time. Is this (or anything like it) true? And if so, why?
Like this post? Subscribe to my RSS feed and get loads more!
3 comments
Water on February 28, 2010 at 2:12 pm
Tornadoes that are embedded within rain are very frequent in the Southeastern States. They are often referred to as rain-wrapped tornadoes.
Tornadoes are the result of the updraft of the thunderstorm and the updraft nearly always exceed the rate that rain falls so the rain actually will fall upwards in the vicinity of a tornado and this is often referred to as the rain free base of the storm (area under the main updraft). And in the case of most midwestern storms this is true that tornadoes will be in areas where it is not raining.
But, in the southeastern states, where there is more abundant moisture and rainfall rates within thunderstorms, the tornado is frequently totally wrapped by heavy rain due to the storms circulation.
SmileyyStar on February 28, 2010 at 2:12 pm
No, they can happen at the same time. The rain usually gets blown around a lot though-
Joy A on February 28, 2010 at 2:12 pm
It’s not entirely true. In the type of storm that usually produces a tornado, a supercell, a storm’s downward motion is separated from its upward motion. The downward motion is where the rain and hail is, and the upward motion is where the storm gets its energy. A tornado usually forms on the southwest side of the storm, which is near where the upward motion is happening. So most of the time, the rain and the tornado will be in separate parts of the storm. But sometimes, most commonly in the southeastern U.S., the storm’s rotation will wrap the rain around the tornado. When you hear that a tornado is rain-wrapped, that is what is happening. I hope that answers your question!