So I’ve learned that warm and cold air are one of the essential recipes for tornadoes and hurricanes. However, why does it feel cold if it’s a mixture of both warm and cold?
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Part of the extreme air movement that is causing the windstorm is that the cold air is falling rapidly while the hot air is rising.
Part of the extreme air movement that is causing the windstorm is that the cold air is falling rapidly while the hot air is rising.
The whole deal of “tornadoes are caused by warm and old air colliding” is a gross oversimplification. On hurricanes it’s just wrong.
Hurricanes (more generally called tropical cyclones) are essentially organized, self sustaining collections of thunderstorms, fueled by the moisture that evaporates from warm ocean water. The systems that form at the meeting of warm and old air are mid-latitude cyclones.
Within a hurricane or any thunderstorms for that matter) Warm, moist air rises and cools. This causes moisture within the air to condense and fall as rain. Since this rain is falling from a high altitude where the air is cooler and because it may undergo additional evaporated cooling on its way down it tends to be cooler than the air temperature at the surface. Additionally when you’re skin gets wet your, Your body heat causes water to evaporate which cools you. As a result even when the air is warm rain feels cool.
Tornadoes, which developed during thunderstorms are usually accompanied by rain, and rain-cooled for the rest of the thunderstorm does feed into them. But there is another factor; The pressure inside a tornado is considerably lower than in the areas around it, and gases such as air cool when they are decompressed. This cooling by decompression also causes moisture in the air to condense which, along with lifted dirt and debris, creates the visible funnel of a tornado. If the condensation phone reaches all the way to the ground, Air at the edge of the final must be at the dewpoint or a cooler.
The whole deal of “tornadoes are caused by warm and old air colliding” is a gross oversimplification. On hurricanes it’s just wrong.
Hurricanes (more generally called tropical cyclones) are essentially organized, self sustaining collections of thunderstorms, fueled by the moisture that evaporates from warm ocean water. The systems that form at the meeting of warm and old air are mid-latitude cyclones.
Within a hurricane or any thunderstorms for that matter) Warm, moist air rises and cools. This causes moisture within the air to condense and fall as rain. Since this rain is falling from a high altitude where the air is cooler and because it may undergo additional evaporated cooling on its way down it tends to be cooler than the air temperature at the surface. Additionally when you’re skin gets wet your, Your body heat causes water to evaporate which cools you. As a result even when the air is warm rain feels cool.
Tornadoes, which developed during thunderstorms are usually accompanied by rain, and rain-cooled for the rest of the thunderstorm does feed into them. But there is another factor; The pressure inside a tornado is considerably lower than in the areas around it, and gases such as air cool when they are decompressed. This cooling by decompression also causes moisture in the air to condense which, along with lifted dirt and debris, creates the visible funnel of a tornado. If the condensation phone reaches all the way to the ground, Air at the edge of the final must be at the dewpoint or a cooler.
Tornadoes and hurricanes are formed by completely different processes, and they aren’t fueled by the same power sources.
Tornadoes do form in mid-latitude cyclones that form because of contact between cold and warm air masses. But at the locations where the two are coming into contact, [the air *at the ground* is the cold air, and the air aloft is warmer](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Occluded_front#/media/File:Front_occlus_trowal_en.png).
Hurricanes don’t feel cold at all (although if you live in the midlatitudes, a hurricane will often pass you just before a trough associated with a cold front, so it may be cool *after* the storm). Hurricanes always form in very warm, moist air, and cannot usually survive water temperatures below about 25 C (77 F) for long. Their power source is the *latent heat* released as water condenses out of the air, which is quite different from the power source for tornadoes.
Tornadoes and hurricanes are formed by completely different processes, and they aren’t fueled by the same power sources.
Tornadoes do form in mid-latitude cyclones that form because of contact between cold and warm air masses. But at the locations where the two are coming into contact, [the air *at the ground* is the cold air, and the air aloft is warmer](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Occluded_front#/media/File:Front_occlus_trowal_en.png).
Hurricanes don’t feel cold at all (although if you live in the midlatitudes, a hurricane will often pass you just before a trough associated with a cold front, so it may be cool *after* the storm). Hurricanes always form in very warm, moist air, and cannot usually survive water temperatures below about 25 C (77 F) for long. Their power source is the *latent heat* released as water condenses out of the air, which is quite different from the power source for tornadoes.
Part of the extreme air movement that is causing the windstorm is that the cold air is falling rapidly while the hot air is rising.
The whole deal of “tornadoes are caused by warm and old air colliding” is a gross oversimplification. On hurricanes it’s just wrong.
Hurricanes (more generally called tropical cyclones) are essentially organized, self sustaining collections of thunderstorms, fueled by the moisture that evaporates from warm ocean water. The systems that form at the meeting of warm and old air are mid-latitude cyclones.
Within a hurricane or any thunderstorms for that matter) Warm, moist air rises and cools. This causes moisture within the air to condense and fall as rain. Since this rain is falling from a high altitude where the air is cooler and because it may undergo additional evaporated cooling on its way down it tends to be cooler than the air temperature at the surface. Additionally when you’re skin gets wet your, Your body heat causes water to evaporate which cools you. As a result even when the air is warm rain feels cool.
Tornadoes, which developed during thunderstorms are usually accompanied by rain, and rain-cooled for the rest of the thunderstorm does feed into them. But there is another factor; The pressure inside a tornado is considerably lower than in the areas around it, and gases such as air cool when they are decompressed. This cooling by decompression also causes moisture in the air to condense which, along with lifted dirt and debris, creates the visible funnel of a tornado. If the condensation phone reaches all the way to the ground, Air at the edge of the final must be at the dewpoint or a cooler.
Tornadoes and hurricanes are formed by completely different processes, and they aren’t fueled by the same power sources.
Tornadoes do form in mid-latitude cyclones that form because of contact between cold and warm air masses. But at the locations where the two are coming into contact, [the air *at the ground* is the cold air, and the air aloft is warmer](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Occluded_front#/media/File:Front_occlus_trowal_en.png).
Hurricanes don’t feel cold at all (although if you live in the midlatitudes, a hurricane will often pass you just before a trough associated with a cold front, so it may be cool *after* the storm). Hurricanes always form in very warm, moist air, and cannot usually survive water temperatures below about 25 C (77 F) for long. Their power source is the *latent heat* released as water condenses out of the air, which is quite different from the power source for tornadoes.
I think the actual point of the question was missed by the other answers – if I understand correctly OP is asking why the wind makes you feel cold even with “warm” air.
The answer is that your body warms up a thin layer of air around you. In still air, this layer can hang around and insulate you from the relatively colder ambient atmospheric air. With wind present, this warm air gets blown away immediately so you lose body heat faster and thus feel colder, even if the temperature is the same. Introducing fresh dry air also lets sweat evaporate faster, cooling you even more. Introducing fresh *wet* air, as long as it’s below your skin body temperature, will feel even colder than that, since the water will sap heat from your skin, especially if it also has precipitation that fell from higher, colder altitudes.
Also remember that “cold” and “warm” are relative terms here, especially related to atmospheric processes.
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