WEBVTT - How The Eye of a Tornado Works

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<v Speaker 1>Brought to you by the reinvented two thousand twelve camera.

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<v Speaker 1>It's ready. Are you welcome to stuff you should know

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<v Speaker 1>from how stuff works dot Com? Hi, and welcome to

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<v Speaker 1>the podcast. I'm Josh Clark, as staff writer here at

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<v Speaker 1>how stuff works dot Com. With me is uh fellow

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<v Speaker 1>staff writer's goatee, Charles Bryant. How are you, Chuck? I'm

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<v Speaker 1>great and my goatee is long and strong. It's looking good, Chuck.

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<v Speaker 1>You're taking excellent care of it. I'd like to keep

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<v Speaker 1>it clean. So, Chuck, you may not know this, but

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<v Speaker 1>I actually grew up in Toledo, Ohio. You ever been?

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<v Speaker 1>I have not. My wife is from Ohio, but never

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<v Speaker 1>been to Toledo. It's actually a surprisingly cool town. Uh.

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<v Speaker 1>The problem is it's at the end of tornado Alley.

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<v Speaker 1>So I've seen plenty of tornadoes in my life, and

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<v Speaker 1>each one scarier than the last. Spent many nights at

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<v Speaker 1>like two in the morning in the basement listening to

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<v Speaker 1>the radio. Right, I had nothing to do with the

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<v Speaker 1>tornadoes though, So I totally didn't. That was more dear

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<v Speaker 1>old Dad than anything. Um. So, I have seen some tornadoes,

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<v Speaker 1>and actually I thought I had kind of left him

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<v Speaker 1>behind when we got down here to Atlanta. Yeah, not

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<v Speaker 1>the case. No, you remember recently there are some tornadoes

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<v Speaker 1>that ripped through downtown. It was the first time ever.

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<v Speaker 1>So they go just tear the roof off of the

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<v Speaker 1>suckers and it's it's just ugly. It looks post apocalyptic

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<v Speaker 1>downtown still several weeks later and before even the thing

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<v Speaker 1>is though I've seen I've seen some tornadoes here there.

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<v Speaker 1>I've never been in the eye of a tornado. Well

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<v Speaker 1>now you know why, because only two people have that

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<v Speaker 1>we know of, and you're not one of them. No,

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<v Speaker 1>I'm not. I'm not, and if I had, I probably

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<v Speaker 1>wouldn't tell anybody anyway. So yeah, that's it actually has

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<v Speaker 1>happened a couple of times on record, and um, it's

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<v Speaker 1>pretty amazing. Um, well, why don't you tell everybody first? What?

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<v Speaker 1>What how it tornado forms? Well, yeah, I guess that

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<v Speaker 1>would help. A tornado is uh, you know, the thunder

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<v Speaker 1>the thunderstorm comes in and uh in the lower atmosphere, Uh,

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<v Speaker 1>the wind picks up and creates a horizontal, uh spinning

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<v Speaker 1>tube on the ground and then once um the storm

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<v Speaker 1>comes through, the rising air tilts it up and then

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<v Speaker 1>you get what you normally think of as the tornado,

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<v Speaker 1>which is the vertical kind of like a guy who's

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<v Speaker 1>on his back is pushed up by his shoulders and

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<v Speaker 1>now he's standing and spinning and spinning and hundreds of

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<v Speaker 1>miles and how he can have it exactly up to

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<v Speaker 1>three hundred miles as fast as they get. Yeah, it's crazy.

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<v Speaker 1>I mean, it's extremely destructive, as everyone knows. Now. I

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<v Speaker 1>know you mentioned that actually tornadoes are generally invisible since

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<v Speaker 1>wind is invisible. Um, but that it's it's I've read

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<v Speaker 1>that it's actually the debris and the dust that's kicked

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<v Speaker 1>up that it gives tornadoes their shape, which is funny

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<v Speaker 1>because tornadoes are called funnel clouds. But it's it's not

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<v Speaker 1>really a cloud. It's it's dirt and debris and cows

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<v Speaker 1>and pick up trucks right from the movie Twister, cows

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<v Speaker 1>flying across your screen. Yeah, that's one of the myths.

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<v Speaker 1>Another one is that you should open your windows of

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<v Speaker 1>your house to let a tornado pass through. That's not

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<v Speaker 1>true at all either. So no, well, the yeah, a

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<v Speaker 1>lot of people think that the low pressure found in

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<v Speaker 1>a tornado makes your house explode. No, it's it's actually

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<v Speaker 1>flying debris. You say, yeah, exactly, and and I read

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<v Speaker 1>Noah suggested that's that's not anyone we know name. Noah's

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<v Speaker 1>the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration or agency, one of

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<v Speaker 1>the two. Uh, they suggest not touching your windows, leaving

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<v Speaker 1>him closed and get to the basement exactly, which is

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<v Speaker 1>just good advice anyway, it is. Yeah. So, um, let's

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<v Speaker 1>get back to these guys. You found two and it

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<v Speaker 1>was just two and this is this is Chuck's article

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<v Speaker 1>by the way, everyone, it's a great one to um.

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<v Speaker 1>I appreciate that. Yeah, these two guys, one was and

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<v Speaker 1>one was in nineteen forty three, so it hasn't happened

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<v Speaker 1>in a long time, which is kind of strange. And uh,

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<v Speaker 1>they were both farmers. Go figure um out in the

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<v Speaker 1>you know, the middle of I think one was in

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<v Speaker 1>Kansas and his name was Keller. Farmer Keller, Yeah, farmer

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<v Speaker 1>will Killer. Yeah, farmer Keller. And uh, you know, he

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<v Speaker 1>saw tornado coming and he's seen a bunch of these things,

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<v Speaker 1>this is his account, and so he wasn't really scared.

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<v Speaker 1>He got his family down the storm celler, but um,

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<v Speaker 1>before he climbed in, he for some reason to say.

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<v Speaker 1>I guess he's kind of transfixed. He decided to kind

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<v Speaker 1>of stay there and watch this thing as it approached,

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<v Speaker 1>and it actually, uh, you know, tornadoes can hop up

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<v Speaker 1>and leap, and I think it kind of hopped up

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<v Speaker 1>on top of him. And the inside of a tornado, Yeah,

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<v Speaker 1>it's like the eye of a hurricane's supposed to be

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<v Speaker 1>really calm. So that explains why he didn't get sucked

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<v Speaker 1>up in the funnel cloud. And um, much like the

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<v Speaker 1>movie Twister, they must have researched these uh, these guys.

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<v Speaker 1>They it was really smooth on the inside, and there

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<v Speaker 1>was constant lightning which lit it up from the inside

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<v Speaker 1>and kind of a bluish green tent and these little

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<v Speaker 1>tiny twisters would break away from the walls and make

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<v Speaker 1>a hissing sound and zip over to the other side

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<v Speaker 1>of the wall. And it was just really insane. And uh.

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<v Speaker 1>The other guy was another farmer in Texas and he

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<v Speaker 1>had pretty Hall, right, yeah, Roy Hall. He had basically

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<v Speaker 1>the same account, which so everyone pretty much feels like

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<v Speaker 1>this is what it's like. The thing is with Keller,

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<v Speaker 1>I was I couldn't understand why he would just stand

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<v Speaker 1>there at the very least Mr Hall, who I think

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<v Speaker 1>it happened, tune, It's a few years later. Um he uh.

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<v Speaker 1>He actually went in the house, the tornado tore his

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<v Speaker 1>roof off, and all of a sudden he found himself

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<v Speaker 1>in the in the eye of the storm. But a

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<v Speaker 1>similar experience, right, exactly the same thing, you know, lightning

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<v Speaker 1>inside and really smooth walls, and they both felt a

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<v Speaker 1>sense of calm and oddly well being being in the

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<v Speaker 1>center of this thing. And the storm in Texas actually

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<v Speaker 1>killed a hundred people in the town. But he doesn't

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<v Speaker 1>like the farmer royal alone. Yeah, thankfully. Well, if you

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<v Speaker 1>want to learn more about what it's like in the

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<v Speaker 1>eye of a tornado, read What's it like in the

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<v Speaker 1>Eye of a Tornado on how stuff works dot com

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<v Speaker 1>for more on this and thousands of other topics. Does

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