Curious about something?

[NicoleScraps]

Okay, you guys seem to know a lot of stuff about a lot of stuff
I am sitting here watching CNN coverage on the horrible tornado that went through Joplin, MO. I have read a lot in the past about natural disasters and why they happen as far as what their natural function/benefit is to the Earth.
This kind of sums it all up.
Could Earth Function Without Natural Disasters? - Yahoo! Answers

However, I have never once read anything about why tornadoes happen. Yes, I know how they happen, but what is their benefit as far as mother nature is concerned.

Not that it matters to the people who have to live through tornadoes. Just trying to satisfy my curious brain.

[Ambrosia76]

some people around here say it is mother nature's way of controlling the trailer park population.

[dlambert]

If you're really trying to find a silver lining for tornados, you could go check out a forested area about a year after a storm comes through. You'll see all sorts of new plants cropping up where they'd otherwise be crowded (and shaded) out by old-growth canopies. This is, of course, good news for the new plants. For the opposing viewpoint, you can ask the logs strewn all over the (former) forest floor, who'd certainly have a different point of view.

In short, windstorms function much like forest fires in the affected areas. I'm not sure this is going to be a compelling benefit, though, to someone whose Buick is in his neighbor's bedroom. Same goes for flooding -- it's completely natural, and it renews farmland, and all that stuff, but the effects on individual people is just about beyond my capacity to understand.

[NicoleScraps]

Originally Posted by dlambert

If you're really trying to find a silver lining for tornados, you could go check out a forested area about a year after a storm comes through. You'll see all sorts of new plants cropping up where they'd otherwise be crowded (and shaded) out by old-growth canopies. This is, of course, good news for the new plants. For the opposing viewpoint, you can ask the logs strewn all over the (former) forest floor, who'd certainly have a different point of view.

In short, windstorms function much like forest fires in the affected areas. I'm not sure this is going to be a compelling benefit, though, to someone whose Buick is in his neighbor's bedroom. Same goes for flooding -- it's completely natural, and it renews farmland, and all that stuff, but the effects on individual people is just about beyond my capacity to understand.

Yes, this is what I was getting at. I understand the devastation that natural disasters bring to people and I have great sympathy for those who suffer. However, the Earth functions as it functions, regardless of the effect on people, that is the part that I was curious about.

[ravncat]

If I recall, tornadoes can till soil - and they are really good at throwing large amounts of dust up into the air which settles over a great distance - being an excellent randomizer and good transport for both seeds and micro-organisms

[candleman]

Originally Posted by NicoleScraps

However, I have never once read anything about why tornadoes happen. Yes, I know how they happen, but what is their benefit as far as mother nature is concerned.
.

Sh*t happens, it doesn't necessarily have a purpose, but as a consequence of it's existence other "good things" come about.

I don't believe it's a function.. It happens, and as a result of it happening good and bad things come about. Over time those effects are compounded and it appears that this "thing" has a purpose because "without the forrest fires all the new seedlings would die", but if the forrest fires werent there other species would have taken over and we would have a totally different type of vegitation there.

I think all this evolution and Mother Nature stuff is just people trying to find purpose.

[faeriegodess612]

I believe that the Yahoo answers thing is excellent. My theory? Population control. For everything, plants, animals, people, and man made structures. Mind you, this bought of tornadoes has hit close to home for me,...and I mean that by my Great Uncle Fred being a victim of the tornadoes that hit AL,..and my Grandfather's house being demolished. Thankfully, he wasnt alive to see it, as he died last June.

Our planet has been around for millions of years. Longer than we can even fathom. As per the news, this is what they call a La Nina cycle that the Earth goes thru. The reason we've been having so many this year is because of the prime conditions for them. I look at the Mother Nature aspect as not just America, but the entire world.

The earthquake in Haiti, the flooding in Australia, the earthquakes in New Zealand, the earthquake and tsunami in Japan, the snow that we got this past winter, the flooding and the tornadoes that were getting now. Many things have perished in all these disasters. It's a cleansing cycle. Mother Nature lashing out at a world thats overpopulated. Cleanse, renew, replenish. She's been doing it since the dawn of time,... and will keep doing it until we cease to be.

But hey,.... thats just my theory.

[Aegea]

Natural disasters like tornadoes, forest fires, and hurricanes just happen. Plants and animals have evolved in that environment and are adapted to it - like the seeds that need a forest fire before they germinate and then can take advantage of the lack of competition and availability of nutrients (ash) to grow. But it's not purposeful, just a result of natural selection.

There was a piece in the paper this morning describing how we could build tornado-proof houses (i.e., concrete bunkers), but that the chance of an individual house being hit by a tornado in any year is only about 1 in 5,000 so it's not economical. Tornado shelters are a different story.

[Jonbar18]

Originally Posted by candleman

Sh*t happens, it doesn't necessarily have a purpose, but as a consequence of it's existence other "good things" come about.

I don't believe it's a function.. It happens, and as a result of it happening good and bad things come about. Over time those effects are compounded and it appears that this "thing" has a purpose because "without the forrest fires all the new seedlings would die", but if the forrest fires werent there other species would have taken over and we would have a totally different type of vegitation there.

I think all this evolution and Mother Nature stuff is just people trying to find purpose.

+1. Anything that happens, just does because of physics or other sciences, It has nothing to do with it being done on purpose. The reason they have positive effects is because species have adapted to them, such as these bugsl (number 2). If the earth worked differently, life would be different (if there were any), but this is how it happened to be.