Tornadoes cause greater damage when they travel uphill and less damage as they move downhill. Whenever possible, tornadoes tend to climb toward higher elevations rather than going downhill. When a region is surrounded by hills, tornadoes skip or hop over valleys beneath and between these hills, and damage is noticed only on the top of the hills.
One of the next things we asked ourselves was; can a hill protect a house from a tornado?
Damage decreased as the tornadoes moved beyond the crest of a hill and going downhill. While it seems logical, this data contradicted a finding from a previous study in which Selvam and a different student found that a hill can act as a protection wall for buildings.
Yet another inquiry we ran across in our research was “Does living on a hill protect you from a tornado?”.
One idea is that tornadoes can travel up and down hillsides, and are just as violent and dangerous. Living on a hill will not protect you from a tornado. “A tornado always forms and appears as a funnel cloud.”.
Do tornadoes hit hills or valleys more?
They reported that the photos showed less damage on hill slopes on the leeward sides; that tornadoes seem to favor higher elevations and move in that direction when they can, and, most controversially, in areas with hills and valleys, tornadoes will skip over the valleys and concentrate the damage on the hills.
Tornadoes can and do hit mountains, and there have been several reports of higher-elevation tornadoes. A biggie was the Teton-Yellowstone tornado that touched down in July 1987. It traveled more than 10,000 feet (3,048 meters) above sea level up the Grand Teton mountain range and even crossed the Continental Divide.
How high do tornadoes go over mountains?
As noted by Thomas P. Grazulis in his book Significant Tornadoes 1680-1991, the tornado went over mountains as high as 10,000 feet, blowing down mostly mature lodgepole pines from 80 to 100 feet tall. Can tornadoes go over hills or even mountains?
Whenever possible, tornadoes tend to climb toward higher elevations rather than going downhill. When a region is surrounded by hills, tornadoes skip or hop over valleys beneath and between these hills, and damage is noticed only on the top of the hills.
How does topography affect the path of a tornado?
Scientists explore how topography affects tornado danger. (Inside Science) — Scientists at the University of Arkansas — a state where tornadoes are a serious matter — believe that in at least some circumstances, tornadoes cause greater damage going uphill and deliver less destructive power going downhill.