Family Preparation & Survival Guide

Tornado conditions are caused when different temperatures and humidity meet to form thunderclouds.  The warm southern winds try to rise, but the cold northern air blocks them. This clash causes the warm, trapped air to rotate horizontally between the two air masses.  At the same time, the sun heats the earth below, warming more air that continues to try and rise. Finally, the rising warm wind becomes strong enough to force itself up through the colder air layer.

When this occurs, the cold air on top begins to sink, sending the rising warm wind spinning upward. The warm winds rotate faster and faster in a high column.  When the updraft is strong, the column can rise to heights of 10 miles or more, twisting at speeds of up to 100 miles an hour.  The rotating winds produce strong storm clouds about 70,000 feet high, sometimes spreading 10 miles wide.

This storm system may stay intact for several hours, at which point its thunderclouds are known as supercells. These storm clouds can send down an inch of rain in a mere ten minutes or shower the ground with baseball-sized hailstones.  Supercells can accumulate into huge clusters, forming a line almost 100 miles long, which can then develop into mesocyclones.

Unfortunately, this natural phenomenon can have devastating and tragic results, so it’s important that disaster preparedness is crucial.  If there’s a tornado alert in your area, always have a plan for you and your family.

When it Comes to Emergency Preparedness
The Good News Is That We Can Help
 
Although the American Red Cross is not a government agency, its authority to provide disaster relief was formalized when, in 1905, the Red Cross was chartered by Congress to “carry on a system of national and international relief in time of peace and apply the same in mitigating the sufferings caused by pestilence, famine, fire, floods, and other great national calamities, and to devise and carry on measures for preventing the same.” The Charter is not only a grant of power, but also an imposition of duties and obligations to the nation, to disaster victims, and to the people who generously support its work with their donations.
 
Red Cross disaster relief focuses on meeting people’s immediate emergency disaster-caused needs. When a disaster threatens or strikes, the Red Cross provides shelter, food, and health and mental health services to address basic human needs. In addition to these services, the core of Red Cross disaster relief is the assistance given to individuals and families affected by disaster to enable them to resume their normal daily activities independently.
 
The Red Cross also feeds emergency workers, handles inquiries from concerned family members outside the disaster area, provides blood and blood products to disaster victims, and helps those affected by disaster to access other available resources.