CHICAGO (WLS) -- Have you ever wondered how a tornado forms? Well, conditions have to be just right to get a tornado.
When you look at a strong thunderstorm, there are wind patterns that come together to make the storm stronger.
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First, you have a warm inflow of moist air that fuels the storm itself. In a strong storm, you have cool air rushing out of the rear of the storm called the rear flank downdraft.
When these two wind patterns come together at the right alignment, a wall cloud can form. A wall cloud is a lowering of the cloud base where the air is rising up into the thunderstorm.
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That wall cloud will rotate if the wind field is favorable for it to spin. If that rotation tightens up, a tornado could form from that wall cloud.
But again, the wind pattern has to be just right to get a tornado to form.
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