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Tornado terms

Word List with 10 words
By Dictionary.com

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Words in This List

anticyclone

a circulation of winds around a central region of high atmospheric pressure, clockwise in the Northern Hemisphere, counterclockwise in the Southern Hemisphere.

cyclone

a large-scale, atmospheric wind-and-pressure system characterized by low pressure at its center and by circular wind motion, counterclockwise in the Northern Hemisphere, clockwise in the Southern Hemisphere.

dust devil

a small whirlwind 10â€“100 ft. (3â€“30 m) in diameter and from several hundred to 1000 ft. (305 m) high, common in dry regions on hot, calm afternoons and made visible by the dust, debris, and sand it picks up from the ground.

funnel cloud

a rapidly rotating funnel-shaped cloud extending downward from the base of a cumulonimbus cloud, which, if it touches the surface of the earth, is a tornado or waterspout.

mesocyclone

a small cyclone that arises near a thunderstorm and is sometimes associated with the occurrence of tornadoes.

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tornado

n.,

a localized, violently destructive windstorm occurring over land, esp. in the Middle West, and characterized by a long, funnel-shaped cloud extending toward the ground and made visible by condensation and debris.

twister

a whirlwind or tornado.

vortex

n.,

a whirling mass of air, esp. one in the form of a visible column or spiral, as a tornado.

waterspout

a funnel-shaped or tubular portion of a cloud over the ocean or other body of water that, laden with mist and spray, resembles a solid column of water reaching upward to the cloud from which it hangs.

whirlwind

any of several relatively small masses of air rotating rapidly around a more or less vertical axis and advancing simultaneously over land or sea, as a dust devil, tornado, or waterspout.