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Whatever your experience might have been, you must have wondered at some point – what brings about whirlwinds or tornadoes?
A Whirlwind is a weather phenomenon in which a vertical and rotating column of air forms due to differences created between colliding air currents.
They occur all over the world and at any season.
Whirlwinds are subdivided into two major categories; major whirlwinds and lesser whirlwinds.
An example of a major whirlwind is the tornado. The tornado is formed when a major thunderstorm starts to spin and then it meets with other high altitude winds, causing a spinning funnel. A cloud then forms over the funnel thus making it visible.
Other processes can enhance the chances of tornado formation. For instance, dry air in the middle atmosphere can be rapidly cooled by rain in the thunderstorm, strengthening the downdrafts that assist in tornado formation.
Notice that in virtually every picture you see of a tornado the tornado has formed on the boundary between dark clouds (the storm updraft region) and bright clouds (the storm downdraft region), evidence of the importance of updrafts and downdrafts to tornado formation.
Also, an isolated strong thunderstorm just ahead of a squall line that then merges with the squall line often becomes tornadic; isolated storms are more likely to form tornadoes than squall lines, since an isolated storm can form a more symmetric flow pattern around it, and the isolated storm also has less competition for the unstable air which fuels the storm than if it were part of a solid line (squall line) of storms.
Minor whirlwinds, on the other hand, are created by local winds and typically start on the ground.
The colliding wind currents then form a funnel which then moves over the ground, being pushed by the winds that first formed it.
The funnel then picks up materials such as dust or snow as it moves over the ground, thus forming the dust devil or the snow devil respectively.
Whirlwinds are known to be accompanied by gust winds that reportedly reach up to a speed of 150km/h and above. Also, they have been known to cause widespread destruction to buildings and other things.
In other words, whirlwinds are not ghosts, they are simply winds that collides while moving in opposite directions
Here is a clear video of how tornadoes form;