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{{trope}}
[[File:tornado1.jpg|frame|[[Red Dwarf
{{quote|''"The [[Buffy-Speak|suck zone]]: it's the point, basically, at which the twister... [[Exactly What It Says
|'''Dusty''', ''[[Twister]]''}}
{{quote|''"It's not '''that''' the wind is blowin', it's '''what''' the wind is blowin'.''
▲{{quote|''"The [[Buffy-Speak|suck zone]]: it's the point, basically, at which the twister... [[Exactly What It Says On the Tin|sucks you up]]. That's not the technical term for it, obviously, but..."''|'''Dusty''', ''[[Twister]]''}}
|'''Ron White'''}}
Tornadoes. One of the deadliest and most terrifying manifestations of nature's fury. They can strike anywhere at any time, claim hundreds of lives each year, and cause billions in widespread property damage.
▲{{quote|''"It's not '''that''' the wind is blowin', it's '''what''' the wind is blowin'.''|'''Ron White'''}}
▲Tornadoes. One of the deadliest and most terrifying manifestations of nature's fury. They can strike anywhere at any time, claim hundreds of lives each year, and cause billions in widespread property damage.
Unless, of course, you live in [[Hollywood Science|the land of make-believe]]. There, only the visible funnel cloud is actually capable of damaging anything, and then, they usually don't even stir up any debris. Never mind that in real life the funnel cloud is only the ''center'' of the tornado, with wide radius of 300+ MPH ground winds pulling air (and earth and [[Twister|cows]] and so forth) into the funnel. Forget the fact that even an EF-1 tornado (on a scale of 0 to 5 in power) can rip the roofs off buildings and turn cars into flying battering rams, not to mention that an EF-5 tornado's damage level is scientifically described on the scale as [[Stuff Blowing Up|"explosive"]] (though it needs to be noted that tornadoes don't actually make things explode). As long as you don't touch the funnel cloud, you're in the clear every time. Yep.
Is trying this in real life dangerous? [[Television Is Trying to Kill Us|You'd better believe it]]. No one can come nearly as close to a real tornado as characters do on TV without already having been sucked up into
Though this trope runs on some heavy use of [[Artistic License]], it's [[Truth in Television|well-documented]] that tornadoes can be... capricious in their damage, destroying one house but leaving the one next door completely untouched, due to [[wikipedia:Multiple vortex|multiple vortices]] inside the funnel. Still, would you bet your life and safety on winning this meteorological lottery? Didn't think so...
Uses the same [[Rule of Perception|"scientific" principles]] as [[Convection, Schmonvection]], which basically state that so long as you don't touch it, it can't hurt you. See also [[
{{examples}}
== [[Anime]] and [[Manga]] ==▼
* Retsuga in ''[[Ginga
▲== [[Anime]] ==
* Present in ''[[
▲* Retsuga in ''[[Ginga Nagareboshi Gin (Anime)|Ginga Nagareboshi Gin]]'' can create tornadoes at will. This trope is played straight in the sense that the surrounding area seems to barely be affected... and then Retsuga goes and ''actually dives into the funnel cloud'' and "rides" the tornado to make a fancy exit. Needless to say, doing this does not harm him in any way.
* Averted in ''[[Ranma ½
▲* Present in ''[[Transformers Super God Masterforce (Anime)|Transformers Super God Masterforce]]'', when Ginrai is able to escape the grip of Overlord's tornado by breaking out of the funnel cloud.
▲* Averted in ''[[Ranma ½ (Manga)|Ranma One Half]]'': the basic form of the Heaven's Dragon Blast (or Hiryuu Shouten Ha) [[Finishing Move|ultimate technique]] creates a tornado with, depending on the methods and circumstances, varying degrees of intensity. Even the weakest form creates very strong winds in the vicinity, which have visible effects on objects (and people) fairly separate from the funnel. Note that the revised versions of the technique behave on wildly different principles and don't necessarily apply.
** But not averted in the videogames, where characters can stand directly next to the funnel (or even block it for [[Scratch Damage|Chipping Damage]]) to no ill effect.
* In ''[[Pokémon (
* Used in a filler episode of ''[[
* Averted in ''[[
* In ''[[
* A hurricane trashes Kurozu-cho in ''[[
* The ''[[
* Played straight in ''[[
* Zoro in ''[[
== [[Film]] ==
Line 37 ⟶ 38:
* The most ridiculous example yet comes from another made-for-TV flick: The blatant ''[[Twister]]'' rip-off ''Tornado!'' Here, the heroes are caught in the open trying to secure a weather analysis machine, and don't even notice that the F-5 tornado just ''passed right over them'' and they're now inside of it. The [[Cool Old Guy]] ultimately secures the machine and sacrifices himself by letting the twister engulf him, even though the "killer" storm just proved completely harmless to the rest of the cast. Wow.
* Averted in the film ''[[Film/Places In The Heart|Places In The Heart]]'', where no funnel cloud is ever seen, and the damage to the town is catastrophic.
* And there's also ''[[The Wizard of Oz (
* ''[[The Day After Tomorrow]]''. One sequence has a swarm of twisters demolish L.A. Not so bad, yet. Then they show a flight of helicopters ''tailing the tornadoes from about two blocks away''. Somewhere, a meteorologist is crying...
* In ''[[
* Averted in ''[[Film/Storm Cell|Storm Cell]]''. Appropriate, since it's about a meteorologist who specializes in tornado work.
* ''[[Film/The Lucky Ones|The Lucky Ones]]'' goes crazy with this. In the middle of the Nevada desert, the protagonists run into a random tornado. They quickly abandon the car they're in and hide in a nearby drain-pipe. Not only do they survive, the car gets through it ''without a scratch''.
* Demonstrated in ''[[Thor (
* At the end of ''[[Rock
* In ''The Seven Serpents'' of the ''[[Sorcery (Literature)|Sorcery]]'' gamebook series, the protagonist encounters a miniature tornado. If he touches it, he is sucked into it and it is [[Game Over]].▼
== [[Live Action TV]] ==
* Averted in ''[[
* The tornado in the cliffhanger ending of the first season of ''[[
* Averted in ''[[Desperate Housewives]]'' (season 4 episode 10), where the cyclone is shown as being quite dangerous even at a distance. However, Lynette and Mrs. McCluskey are still able to stand outside in the storm without being blown away as they watch the funnel cloud bear down on them.
* In ''[[Tin Man (TV series)|Tin Man]]'' the tornado travel storm sits right beside DG's house for several minutes without doing any damage to it.
* Averted in ''[[
* Inverted completely in ''[[
== [[Tabletop Games]] ==
* Averted in ''[[Dungeons
▲* In ''The Seven Serpents'' of the ''[[Sorcery
== [[Video Games]] ==
* Interestingly enough, this is at least mildly averted in a particular side quest in ''[[The Legend of Zelda:
* Also barely averted in the Water dungeons of ''[[The Legend of Zelda:
* In later stages of the ''[[
* Jumping into a tornado in ''[[
** Averted in ''[[Sonic the Hedgehog (2006
* In ''[[Crash Bandicoot:
* In ''[[Crysis (
* In ''[[
* ''[[Diablo (
* Averted with the Tornado spell in ''[[Sacrifice]]'' - units in the target area go flying before the funnel cloud is even fully formed.
* Partially averted in ''[[
* Auron in ''[[
* Likewise Cloud's [[One-Hit Kill|Finishing Touch]] [[Limit Break]] in ''[[
* ''[[
* A partial aversion in ''[[
* Averted in ''[[Giants
* ''[[Populous:
* ''[[
* Played straight in the Genesis game ''[[
* Played straight in ''[[Backyard Sports
* ''[[
* ''[[
* A partial, vague aversion occurs with the [[Blow You Away|Storm Summoning]] powerset in ''[[
* Shamal's Square attack in ''[[Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha
** Everyone involved has [[Deflector Shields|Barrier Jackets]] capable of standing up to kiloton-range energy blasts, albeit with heavy damage, as well as flight capability, so this is a [[Justified Trope]] for once.
* In the second ''[[No One Lives Forever]]'' game, Cate travels to a small town in Ohio while it is under attack from a tornado. There, she has to discover clues about [[Fun
* A particularly whacked-out example occurs in a ''[[
* ''[[
* Played straight in ''[[
* In ''[[Nancy Drew (
* ''[[
* ''[[Bug!
* Averted in the ''Kessen'' series; then again, part of the appeal of spells in the series is watching all the little dudes get tossed around. However, damage-wise it does play it straight, as men that are tossed around at the edges have a moderate chance of survival, albeit shaken and morale-broken. The Dragon and Fissure spells follow the same pathing and are much more lethal.
* In ''[[
* Zigzagged in ''[[Spider
== [[Web Comics]] ==
* ''[[
* John's hurricanes in ''[[
== [[Western Animation]] ==
* Strangely subverted in ''[[The Simpsons (
** Todd Flanders is driven through a tree during a hurricane. While he should be squished, objects like 2x4's ''have'' been driven clean through a tree by the winds of these storms.
** There is another point when Homer leaves the family shelter because he mistakes the eye of the hurricane for the end of the storm. When he runs back to the shelter, he is pulled off the ground, only to get grabbed by the rest of the family and spun around.
* ''[[
* Even the ''[[
* [[Zig Zagged Trope|Zig-Zagged]] in ''[[
== [[Real Life]] ==
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* The [[Ron White]] quote above refers to a real news story about a man refusing to be evacuated during a storm (actually a hurricane), saying he was going to tie himself to a pole to prove that [[Too Dumb to Live|he was in good enough shape to withstand the wind.]] As Ron pointed out "If you get hit with a ''Volvo'', it doesn't really matter how many sit-ups you did that morning."
* The violent [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zYe5NsxeB6M Manchester Tornado] is a very good example of the deceptive size of these storms. While the condensation funnel is hardly small, the dirt whipped up around it ''tripled'' the size of the visible funnel, which causes it to represent the size much more accurately. If the ground had been wet enough however, it's very likely that the chasers would have been sucked into the vortex getting as close as they did to the funnel cloud.
* On March 28, 2000, [[DFW Metroplex|DFW, Texas]] was severely damaged after a particularly bad storm system spawned a number of tornadoes. One managed to beat the odds and run right through downtown Ft.
** In 2012, some [http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-17605586 striking images] of another tornado in the DFW area have emerged, stirring up ''whole trucks''.
{{reflist}}
[[Category:Television Is Trying to Kill Us]]
[[Category:Artistic License Physics]]
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[[Category:Rule of Perception]]
[[Category:This Index Blows]]
[[Category:
[[Category:{{PAGENAME}}]]
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