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The Backlash Cometh Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed May-25-11 11:49 AM
Original message
Another stupid tornado question.
I noticed that most of the damage is occurring in areas which have little or no tree canopy. Does heavy arboreal coverage change the formula because of different oxygen and carbon dioxide emissions?
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marybourg Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed May-25-11 11:51 AM
Response to Original message
1. I don't think your observation is correct. Have you seen the
neighborhoods BEFORE the tornado came through? Have you not seen pics of trees down on cars and homes afterwards?
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The Backlash Cometh Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed May-25-11 11:55 AM
Response to Reply #1
5. I'm from the tropics.
A tree here, or a tree there doesn't constituted a heavy canopy.
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NeedleCast Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed May-25-11 11:52 AM
Response to Original message
2. Nothing I've read or seen would indicate that
Although I'm just an amature with an interest who used to live in the Tornado Belt and has been on a few chases.

Wikipedia has a good section on tornado formation and intensity: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tornado#Formation
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Lars39 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed May-25-11 11:53 AM
Response to Original message
3. Smoky Mountains were recently hit by tornado...
http://hikinginthesmokys.blogspot.com/2011/05/confirmed-tornado-closes-numerous.html

Scroll down a bit to see image.
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Love Bug Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed May-25-11 11:54 AM
Response to Original message
4. Probably not
We had an F1-2 in the northern part of Minneapolis on Sunday afternoon, too, and the city has a quite a lot of old trees. Most of the trees in that tornado's path are now either gone or severely damaged. If you look at ariel photos you can see the path easily by the lack of trees. In fact, a lot of the damage was done by trees falling on homes and cars.

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&rlz=&q=minneapolis%20tornado%20path&um=1&ie=UTF-8&tbm=isch&source=og&sa=N&tab=wi&biw=1345&bih=583
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pipi_k Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed May-25-11 11:58 AM
Response to Original message
6. Central Tennessee...1974
I went out the next day after the infamous April 3 - 4 outbreak in that area.

One hillside that was covered with trees looked like a huge lawnmower had gone up it.

There was a path right through the trees.
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kick-ass-bob Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed May-25-11 12:03 PM
Response to Original message
7. Nope. The tornado that came 1/4 mile from my house
last month ripped through the center of a heavy undeveloped forest tearing out trees before it got to our neighborhood. It was on the ground for 50 miles or so before it dissipated. (Sanford, NC to Raleigh tornado)
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The Backlash Cometh Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed May-25-11 12:12 PM
Response to Reply #7
11. Thanks KAB and the four posters that follow.
That answers my question.
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MicaelS Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed May-25-11 12:04 PM
Response to Original message
8. You are mistaken
Looks at all the stripped trees in these pictures from Joplin. http://www.flickr.com/photos/zeitlosimagery/

Look especially at the before / after picture. http://www.flickr.com/photos/zeitlosimagery/5753088972/in/photostream

Look at these before / after pictures. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1390530/Joplin-MO-tornado-Before-photos-complete-devastation.html?ito=feeds-newsxml
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Shagbark Hickory Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed May-25-11 12:04 PM
Response to Original message
9. You're wrong. The lack of tree canopy is the effect, not the cause.
Edited on Wed May-25-11 12:04 PM by Shagbark Hickory
there were tornados here in the mountains in heavily wooded areas.
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Coyote_Bandit Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed May-25-11 12:11 PM
Response to Original message
10. I believe some of the areas
most severely impacted last night in Arkansas are state/federal parks and heavily forested.
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digonswine Donating Member (463 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed May-25-11 12:13 PM
Response to Original message
12. A tornado does not get its energy from CO2 or O2
Edited on Wed May-25-11 12:14 PM by digonswine
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damntexdem Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed May-25-11 12:17 PM
Response to Original message
13. Tree canopy = falling and flying objects that crush houses, cars, people.
Trees are great -- but not during a tornado. (Not great in a thunderstorm, either, because of lightning strikes.)
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sinkingfeeling Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed May-25-11 01:06 PM
Response to Original message
14. Joplin, MO was heavily treed until the F5 hit. Now there's hardly a tree standing. And Denning, AR
is almost surrounded by the Ozark National Forest.
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laundry_queen Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed May-25-11 01:36 PM
Response to Original message
15. when I was younger
There was a tornado in the forest adjacent to my grandparent's property. Tall, 100 year old pine trees. Same when I was an adult. I had seen a funnel outside my window in the early morning, but it dissapated. A friend who worked for forestry called me later in the day to tell me they had a tornado out in the forest north of town. I don't think forested areas are any less likely to get tornadoes than anywhere else.
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RainDog Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed May-25-11 01:39 PM
Response to Original message
16. hills and mtns break the air flow that allows tornadoes to form
plains are associated with grasslands and hills are associated with deciduous and evergreen trees in the midwest, north and south.

so it's really the lack of mtns, not the presence or lack of trees, that makes it more likely for tornadoes to form.
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