Tornado season - part I

Tornado season - part I     audio        www.inglesvip.xpg.com.br

credits for Teacher Fúvio, Sorocaba, SP

1. This is SCIENCE IN THE NEWS in VOA Special English. I'm Barbara Klein. And I'm Bob Doughty. This week, we will tell about the science of tornadoes. Tornadoes have been observed in many parts of the world. But the storms are most often found in the United States.

2. Tornado season has begun in the United States. More than sixty tornadoes were reported in the country's southeast during the last weekend in April. One tornado measuring more than a kilometer wide struck the state of Mississippi. It destroyed homes, blocked roads and cut off electricity.

3. The storms were blamed for ten deaths in Mississippi, and two others in nearby Alabama. Weather experts believe it was the most intense tornado eventsince two thousand eight.

4. A tornado is a violently turning tube of air suspended from a thick cloud. It extends from a thunderstorm in the sky down to the ground. The shape is like a funnel: wide at the top, narrower at the bottom.

5. Tornadoes form when winds blowing in different directions meet in the clouds and begin to turn in circles. Warm air rising from below causes the wind tube to reach toward the ground. Because of their circular movement, these windstorms are also known as “twisters”.

6. The most severe tornadoes can reach wind speeds of three hundred twenty kilometers an hour or more. In some cases, the resulting paths of damage can stretch more than a kilometer wide and eighty kilometers long.

7. With a tornado, bigger does not necessarily mean stronger. Large tornadoes can be weak. And some of the smallest tornadoes can be the most damaging. But no matter what the size, tornado winds are the strongest on Earth. Tornadoes have been known to carry homes, cars and trees from one place to another.

They can also destroy anything in their path.

8. Tornadoes have been observed on every continent except Antarctica. But experts say they are most commonly seen in the United States. On average, eight hundred tornadoes are reported nationwideeach year.

9. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration keeps records of tornado sightings. It says tornadoes kill eighty people and injure one thousand five

hundred others nationwide in an average year.

10. Tornadoes are observed most often in the central part of the United States, where the land is mostly flat. The area where the most violent tornadoes usually happen is known as “Tornado Alley.” This area is considered to extend from north-central Texas to North Dakota.

11. Tornadoes can happen any time of the year. But most happen from late winter to the middle of summer. In some areas, there is a second high season in autumn.

12. Tornado seasons are the result of wind and weather patterns. During spring, warm air moves north and mixes with cold air remaining from winter. In autumn, the opposite happens. Cold weather moves south and combines with the last of the warm air from summer.

13. Tornadoes can strike with little or no warning. Most injuries happen when flying objects hit people. Experts say the best place to be is in an underground shelter, or a small, windowless room in the lowest part of a building.

14. People driving during a tornado are told to find low ground and lay flat, facedown, with their hands covering their head. People in the path of a tornado often have just minutes to make life-or-death decisions.

15. The deadliest American tornado on record is the Tri-State Tornado of March eighteenth, nineteen twenty-five. It tore across Missouri, Illinois and Indiana. About seven hundred people were killed.

16. A "tornado outbreak" is often defined as six or more tornadoes produced by the same weather system within a day. But the outbreak of April third and fourth, nineteen seventy-four, set a national record. It is remembered as the "Super Outbreak." One hundred forty-eight tornadoes struck during a twenty-four-hour period. More than three hundred people were killed and nearly six thousand others injured.

1. About = aproximadamente
2. Alley = beco
3. below = abaixo, debaixo
4. blamed = culpado(a)
5. blowing = soprando
6. bottom = fundo
7. can be weak = podem ser fracos
8. carry = carregar
9. damage = danos
10. damaging = prejudiciais
11. deaths = mortes
12. down to the ground = até o chão
13. during = durante
14. facedown = com o rosto para baixo
15. flat = plana
16. funnel = funil
17. has begun = começou
18. injure = ferem
19. keeps records = mantém registros
20. land = terra
21. late winter = final do inverno
22. lay = deitar-se
23. long = de comprimento
24. lowest part = parte mais baixa
25. mean = significa
26. measuring = medindo
27. meet = encontram-se
28. narrower = mais estreito
29. nationwide = no país
30. nearby = vizinhança
31. nearly = quase
32. no matter = não importa
33. often found = frequentemente encontrado
34. On average = em media

35. outbreak = surto
36. paths = trilhas
37. patterns = padrões
38. reach = alcançar
39. remaining = remanescentes
40. rising = elevando-se
41. season = temporada, estação
42. set = estabeleceu
43. severe = grave, rigoroso
44. shape = forma
45. shelter = abrigo
46. sightings = avistamentos
47. since = desde
48. spring = primavera
49. storms = tempestades
50. stretch = alongar-se
51. struck = atingiu
52. The deadliest = o mais fatal
53. thick cloud = nuvem espessa
54. thunderstorm = tempestade com raios e trovões
55. tore across (presente = tear across) = dilacerou
56. tornadoes = tornados
57. toward = em direção a
58. turn in circles = girar em círculos
59.  turning = giratório
60. underground = subterrâneo
61. warning = alerta, aviso
62. Weather = clima
63. wide = de largura
64. windowless = sem janela
65. winds = ventos
66. windstorms = tempestades de vento
67. within = dentro de