Why is it that you never hear of Tornadoes tearing down skyscrapers?

Question

Ive been thinking latealy, and Tornadoes destroy millions of homes each year, why have u never heard of a skyscraper being torn down by one???

Answer 1

Because Sky Scrapers are built in cities that Tornadoes do not reach.

Answer 2

I can think of two practical reasons. One, there are millions of homes to every skyscraper. It's just the laws of probability that skyscrapers don't get hit as often because there aren't as many of them.

Two: skyscrapers tend to be businesses, so they aren't occupied full time, usually. And, when they are occupied, it's by business types. Who may be sent home if the weather gets really bad. So, if you are a reporter, which story would you rather do? A tragic, really visual story about a trailer house that gets flung half way across the county, and everyone dies except the baby who was strapped to a high chair, or a story about a mostly-deserted building that falls down? More human interest in the first. Callous, but there you go. The skyscraper is going at the end of the article.

Answer 3

i have never witnessed a tornado because the place i am from we do not have these storms but i think i know why they do not affect a sky scraper.a sky scraper unlike homes in the united stet es or other temperate countries are built on strong foundations made out of cement and iron.a home in your locality is usually made out of wood.wood is lighter and cannot take the force of a tornado while a well cemented building will get away with small damages.every year i witness a tornado storm striking the united states destroying hundreds of homes and causing people to relocate to other parts of the country - on the news of course.every year you rebuild your houses with wood and it takes two to three weeks (max) to built a house where as from where i am it takes at least 6 months to finish basic building and another 3 to four months for the interior approximately a year.the stronger the building the better it would withstand a storm.not that it would not be affected it will depending on the power a tornado hits your town with but the damages are considerably lesser when compared to what it would cause a log house.

Answer 4

Because Skyscrapers cost enormous amounts of money to build. Therefore, the engineers design it to withstand the winds that are generated by tornadoes. The glass might break out, but the structure isn't going anywhere. They also design them to withstand earthquakes and other catastrophic events. The world trade center designers had actually planned for an airplane crashing into one of the towers and had calculated that the structure could survive. Of course, they didn't plan for a deliberate attack with an airplane that is fully fueled. But nowadays, you can bet planners definately take even this extreme event into consideration when designing the structure of a skyscraper.

Answer 5

OK, I'm going to go ahead and admit I have no way to verify my information but I have 2 theories.

One, I think tornados are more apt to stay strong and build in force over flat land. Many tornados start in rural areas and then hit medium to small-sized cities in the middle of flat lands. That's why tornados are so numerous in the midwest. Flatland plus many rural communities (of course temperate weather conditions are a given) equals bad news. So, say there is a tornado which could possibly hit Chicago. Maybe it could, but there are literally hundreds of miles of suburbs that surround Chicago giving it a big buffer.
Any tornado would first hit, say Romeoville, if it had strength after that it would go into the buffer zone and eventually break up.

My second theory, which is kinda related, is that most metropolis' are located next to huge bodies of water. I think something about the huge mass of water would change the formula needed for a tornado. Once again leaving waterless, flat lands ripe for the picking while LA, Chicago, NY and countless other metropolis' relatively safe.

Answer 6

Um...

http://www.dallassky.com/fwtornado.htm

"Tornado rips through downtown Fort Worth high-rises on March 28, 2000. The strong F2 tornado struck at 6:15 PM. five were killed and over 100 injured. Overall more than 500 million dollars in property damage to Fort Worth and suburbs of Arlington and Grand Prairie as of March 31."

But in general you don't get skyscrapers damaged by tornados because the skyscrapers are in places that aren't usually hit by tornados.

Answer 7

Tornado formation within the central portion of major cities is to a large extent deterred quite by accident by a process referred to as "heat bloom."

It refers to the natural heat of all the things happening in the city that keeps the area of the city warmer than the surrounding area.

The formation of a tornado requires a certain amount of temperature change in the air over a certain amount of distance in the sky.(up and down) The heat bloom shortens this distance thusly helping to prevent tornadoes from forming here.

However, tornadoes can still form outside of this area and wander in - albeit losing strength in the process.

Answer 8

No way the world trade center underwent tremendous shock and loads, this caused it to fall. the impact of the planes shook off the ablative material that protects the steel from heat, a regular fire can therefore bring down a skyscraper however wind load cannot...sometimes it is possible for glass to fall out and facade to deinstall however the design is such as to make the building able to withstand ANY windload...

Answer 9

It just hasn't happened yet, and consider the location of the cities with skyscrapers- coastal cities not as likely to get hit. Oh, and the skyline of Kansas City is not exactly "skyscraper" (maybe this is why).

Answer 10

Tornadoes mostly happen in the midwest where there are not many big cities. They need vast open areas to form. You don't get that kind of place in NY or LA.

Answer 11

have you seen where tornado alley is located?? Tornadoes like to form in open areas. there aren't that many skyscrapers in open areas.