Welcome to another Friday edition of Life In 360° where today we’re getting all meteorolgical thanks to The Weather Channel.
We’re now well into April, astonishing how fast the time is passing, and as we move further into spring and closer to summer the possibilities of the right whether conditions to generate tornadoes begins to climb. But have you ever considered what actually goes into a tornado forming – and no, not in a ‘well I saw Twister one time’ sense.
In order to help people udnerstand the science of a tornado The Weather Channel website weather.com has created an interactive 360 degree experience to show just how and why the four ingredients that combine to make a tornado mix: Shear, Lift, Instability and Moisture – also known as “SLIM”.
“When vertical wind shear is intense near the surface.” Explains The Weather Company’s Jonathan Belles. “It creates a rolling tube of air that is parallel to the ground. When lifted vertically, the rotating tube acts as a suction vacuum bringing up air, and that air falls as rain in areas surrounding and ahead of the strongest part of the storm. This is like the lungs of a thunderstorm that will keep breathing until the storm cannot breathe any longer. This is what makes a cell a supercell.”
You can find the experience here on weather.com, along with an in-depth explanation into the science behind extreme weather.
VRFocus will be back next week with three more visits to Life In 360°, but that doesn’t mean an end to the flow of news, so be sure to check back throughout today and the weekend for the latest.