I thought tornadoes were black?? They were showing the ones in KS and they were these little white

[patricia92243]

whirly things. I have never seen a real tornadoe and thought they all looked like the one in The Wizard of Oz.

[Deja Q]

1. They start white, but then they suck in dirt, mud, and debris.

That's what causes the darker appearance.

[patricia92243]

2. That makes sense. We don't heve them here in the mountians - thank the good lord!! n/t

[TOhioLiberal]

3. it depends...

...on where the photographer is relative to the tornado.
this is from the wiki page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tornado

These are two photographs of the Waurika, Oklahoma tornado of May 30, 1976, taken at nearly the same time by two different photographers. In the top picture, the tornado is front-lit, with the sun behind the east-facing camera, so the funnel appears nearly white. In the lower image, where the camera is facing the opposite direction, the tornado is back-lit, with the sun behind the clouds.

[patricia92243]

9. Just looking at this makes my heart drop into my shoes. Those poor people in KS! n/t

[Arkansas Granny]

4. The dark color comes from the debris that gets sucked into them.

We saw one touch down (from a safe distance) that started out white while still in the air, but turned black from the bottom up when it touched down. Creepy feeling even when you know you're not in the path.

[LaraMN]

5. I thought they were gray, with cows.

Who knew?
:shrug:

[patricia92243]

7. lol :)

:)

[hippywife]

8. ...

[MissB]

10. .

:rofl:

[SPKrazy]

6. They are invisible themselves

they pick up their color from water vapor, debris, and light factors (and debris can be a lot of things from dirt, to insulation, to cattle, to buildings, to vehicles, to whatever depending on the size.

The whiter ones are often pictured from an angle that favors that and the water vapor my add to the coloring there

[Whoa_Nelly]

11. A little tornado edjumacation

Several pages--all beautiful photos

http://www.chaseday.com/tornadoes.htm