Re: Can two tornadoes connect to make one?

This is a good question; although, I'm not sure what you mean by the "connect". It is possible for two or more tornadoes to combine or merge into one tornado, but this depends on many conditions that meteorologists don't quite understand. In order to understand this, you must remember that tornadoes are rapidly spinning columns of air, and that air, like water, is a fluid that can be mixed fairly easily under the right conditions. These conditions include the pressure near the center of the tornado and how close the tornadoes are to one another. Basically, the tornados would mix together and form one tornado.

A related phenomenon occurs when one tornado creates several smaller spinning columns of air. These smaller tornadoes, or vortices, are part of one large tornado. We call this tornado a tornado with "multiple vortices." Meteorologists are still not quite sure why this happens either.

It is also possible for two thunderstorms to merge into one storm. Meteorologists have noticed that when thunderstorms merge, sometimes they become severe, meaning that they produce hail, strong winds or tornadoes.

To find out more information about severe weather and what kind of work meteorologists do, check out our cool web site at http://www.nssl.noaa.gov/edu/.