During the storm, a curved jet stream strengthens the storm. Then the supercell, a five to ten mile cloud, forms. Within the supercell, a vortex, a spinning column of air, forms. The stretching and tightening of the vortex creates a tornado. Updrafts and downdrafts bring the tornado to the ground.
Tornadoes require just the right conditions to form.
There are many ways to measure the intensity of tornadoes. It is named after Doctor T. Theodore Fujita. The classification areas are F0, F2, F3, F4, and F5. F0 tornadoes cause light damage and wind speeds range from forty to seventy-two mph. F1 tornadoes cause slightly more damage than F0 tornadoes.