tornado

What it means

1. climatologyA violent wind in the form of a mobile, rapidly rotating, funnel cloud that has contacted the ground.

   An extreme version of vorticity is a vortex. The vortex is a spinning, cyclonic mass of fluid, which can be observed in the rotation of water going down a drain, as well as in smoke rings, tornados and hurricanes.

   2013 March 28, Frank Fish, George Lauder, “Not Just Going with the Flow”, in American Scientist, volume 101, number 2, archived from the original on 01 May 2013, page 114

   1 more example

   Some of the same areas hit by tornadoes just a little over a week ago are expecting severe storms again Monday afternoon and evening. […] A multiday severe weather outbreak is possible Monday through Wednesday, increasing the already-above average tornado count even higher.

   2024 May 5, Allison Chinchar, “Multiday severe weather threat could continue tornado streak this week”, in CNN, archived from the original on 15 May 2024

   Synonyms: twister, whirlstorm, twister

In a sentence

An extreme version of vorticity is a vortex. The vortex is a spinning, cyclonic mass of fluid, which can be observed in the rotation of water going down a drain, as well as in smoke rings, tornados and hurricanes.

2013 March 28, Frank Fish, George Lauder, “Not Just Going with the Flow”, in American Scientist, volume 101, number 2, archived from the original on 01 May 2013, page 114

Where it comes from

1. Proto-Indo-European*(s)tenh₂-“to thunder”
2. Latintonō“to thunder”
3. Spanishtronada“thunderstorm”
4. Englishtornado

From earlier English ternado, attested since the 1550s as a nautical term for a windy thunderstorm. From Spanish tronada (“thunderstorm”), from tronar (“to thunder”), from Latin tonō (“to thunder”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)tenh₂- (“to thunder”). The o and r were reversed in English (metathesis) under influence of Spanish tornar (“to twist, to turn”), from Latin tornō (“to turn”).