Shulou(Shulou.com)12/24 Report--

Chapter one: the ancient understanding that the incarnation of the dragon, God, ordered the ups and downs of the dragon, and the tail of the dragon did not drag the sky.

Most people may have heard of tornadoes, but not many people have actually seen tornadoes, especially in China. " The name "tornado" did not exist until modern times, and there are few records of the phenomenon of tornado in its early days. The earlier description comes from Zhuangzi's "the person who rises to the top", in which "supporting and shaking" is a whirlwind, which is supposed to be the so-called "tornado" in modern times. Aristotle of ancient Greece mentioned a kind of whirlwind in Meteorology, which should also be a tornado, and later there were traces of tornadoes in Lu you's poem "Dragon hanging" in the Song Dynasty. But before it was recorded, how did people understand this phenomenon?

As a creature that has always existed in myths and legends, but has never been confirmed by modern human beings, its ups and downs in the eyes of the ancients often symbolize the changes of nature. In ancient times, "dragon absorbs water" is actually a tornado on the water. because tornadoes are often accompanied by a large amount of precipitation, people understand this phenomenon as the magical power of dragons, which happens to confirm the image of dragons calling the wind and rain in mythology. However, since tornadoes are generally destructive, perhaps the evil dragon hook between tornadoes and "Jiaolong" should be more intuitive and appropriate.

(pexel, author Isidoro Esposito) Chapter 2: in modern times, people have applied science to explain all kinds of wonderful phenomena in nature, including tornadoes. The more common explanation is that tornadoes are a strong small-scale air vortex caused by air convection under strong unstable weather conditions (from Baidu encyclopedia). Under unstable weather conditions, there is a great difference in the temperature of hot and cold air masses up and down, and they begin to "antagonize" constantly, and due to the influence of geostrophic deflection force, cyclones in opposite rotating directions are produced in the process of cold air falling and warm air rising, forming a vortex. The vortex rotates faster and faster, and extends up and down. When it extends to the ground, it forms a tornado. The internal airflow of a tornado moves downward and the external airflow moves upward.

For the characteristics of tornadoes, there are mainly the following points: (1) the wind speed is extremely fast and destructive, the wind speed can reach more than 100 meters per second, and big trees, cars, unstable houses, etc., will be destroyed by tornadoes; (2) the diameter of tornadoes is very small. Tornadoes are usually 25-100 meters near the ground, and in very few cases they can reach kilometers. (3) due to the influence of geostrophic deflection force, most tornadoes rotate counterclockwise in the northern hemisphere and clockwise in the southern hemisphere. (4) "come in a hurry and go in a hurry". As "Love comes too quickly like a tornado" and "Love goes too fast like a tornado", tornadoes form quickly and have a short lifespan. The duration is usually less than an hour, maybe only a few minutes, and a few may last several hours, which is why tornadoes are used to describe fleeting love. The characteristics of tornadoes can be simply summarized as "short and short, lack of range".

Tornadoes also have obvious differences in regional distribution. Tornadoes occur more in some areas in the east of China, especially in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River. The country with the highest frequency of tornadoes in the world is the United States, which has something to do with its geographical location. The United States faces the sea from east to west, the ocean air brings moist air, the water vapor is rich, it is easier to form cumulus clouds, and the terrain is flatter, and it is easier to form winds. Tornadoes may occur when they develop to a certain intensity.

At present, the intensity classification of tornadoes is based on the "Fujita series", tornadoes are divided into EF0~EF5 a total of six grades, from small to large, the impact and disaster degree are also increased in turn.

(website pexel, by Ralph W. lambrecht) Chapter 3: unpredictability? -- "Free will" comes to the conclusion that the prediction and early warning of tornadoes is still a worldwide problem and difficult to predict. At present, the occurrence of tornadoes can be reliably predicted, such as thunderstorms and other severe convective weather, but the prediction of individual tornadoes can only be a few minutes to more than ten minutes in advance in the most ideal conditions. this is mainly related to its small volume, short duration, fast moving speed and the randomness of generation and occurrence. Therefore, when forecasting severe convective weather, the "big brother" should always take precautions. I am afraid it is a little late to play defense until he summons the "little brother".

Although the "free will" of a tornado is difficult to read, the trajectory of a tornado can actually be judged by common sense: in general, a tornado is a "straight man" who walks in an approximately straight line, with a little bend, of course, but large deflection is rare, so it can be judged by common sense. However, judgment may require a wide field of vision and good light, which is very limited when a tornado comes.

Special section: accept the reality-the prediction of tornadoes is very difficult and destructive. For example, on September 19 this year, tornadoes of EF and EF3 respectively occurred in Jiangsu, killing 10 and injuring 8. At the same time, they brought losses such as house collapse. Therefore, tornado prevention is very necessary, here are some suggestions:

(1) when indoors, do not believe that doors, windows and the outer walls of the house can give you enough safety. on the contrary, they will hit your head mercilessly. It is recommended to hide in a small room in the opposite direction of the tornado and squat your head. The safest option is to hide in the basement and look for thick quilts and blankets to protect the body, especially the head, from being hurt.

(2) if you are outside, you should try to run perpendicular to the track of the tornado and look for low-lying places to get down and hide, but keep away from big trees, telephone poles and other objects that are easy to fall, and you should also protect your body as much as possible.

(3) if you are driving, please leave the car immediately and follow (2) to find a low-lying area to avoid, because the strong wind will sweep away with people and cars, so that you can experience the feeling of "flying", and it is very likely that you will only have an experience card once in a lifetime.

(from CCTV News) although tornadoes are not a major disaster in China, security risks also exist in some special areas. The losses caused by tornadoes are not only related to the technical barriers to predict tornadoes, but also to infrastructure construction and people's safety awareness. Therefore, if measures are taken to improve these aspects, the losses caused by tornadoes may be further reduced.

The scientific study of tornadoes has unveiled the mystery of "dragon absorbing water", but it has also cast a bigger layer of fog on us-how can we predict it more accurately in the future? How to prevent it? This may confirm the saying, "the more we know, the less we know."

Human beings still have a long way to go in future exploration, such as tornadoes, as well as any other science. Hope that generation after generation of researchers can continue to explore more accurate prediction methods, more and more know about tornadoes, but also more and more understand the natural world.

This article is from the official account of Wechat: stone popular Science Studio (ID:Dr__Stone), by niong Kang.

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