Hi Cathryn,

I grew up in central Kansas. Our Dad watched the sky when storm clouds appeared after a quick temperature change. Sometimes after a storm he showed us oil well derricks that were twisted by a tornado, and once the same thing happened to light poles around the local high school football field without damage to anything nearby on the ground. I don't have a tornado theory, because I hid under a bed if we saw clouds at different levels overhead racing in different directions (we didn't have a cellar). This article from the Denver Post describes the formation of one tornado.

> Article Published: Wednesday, June 16, 2004
> Nation on pace for a record tornado year
> By Erin Cox
> Denver Post Staff Writer
> ...
> "The one thing that is absolutely critical for a tornado to form is a wind
> at a different direction than the atmosphere," said Jeremy Nelson,
> meteorologist with Weather Central in Madison, Wis.
>
> Tuesday's storm, for example, was caused by moist, warm air moving up the
> Front Range and colliding with a flow coming over the mountains and
> producing wind shear.
>
> A corkscrew effect was produced in concert with the moist air, and the
> severe storm started to swirl counterclockwise, eventually creating a
> tornado.
> ...

See complete article at:
http://www.denverpost.com/Stories/0,1413,36~53~2215065,00.html

Mary C.