Recently, a deadly tornado struck the Mainaguri area of Jalpaiguri district of West Bengal for 10 minutes and killed five people and injured over a 100.
- In recent years, an increasing number of tornadoes have formed across India and caused destruction.
- A warming Bay of Bengal and land, along with anomalous wind patterns could be a reason behind this.
- A tornado is a short duration storm occurring over a small area but are violent.
- A tornado is a land-based vertical column of violently rotating air that forms from a thunderstorm to the ground.
- It can have wind speeds in the range of 105-322 kilometres per hour. The system itself can be stationary or can move at a speed of around 97 km / hr.
- These extreme storms are rare in India and have mostly been reported in the eastern states of West Bengal, Odisha and Jharkhand during the pre-monsoon period. But there is evidence of some of them having formed in northwest India as well.
