Christine King, age 11, of Oak Hill, W. Va., for her question:

WHY DO TORNADOS TRAVEL IN A PATH?

A tornado is the wildest storm in the world  but it cannot happen all by itself.  It is part of a vast, turbulent weather system, and when one tornado is born others are likely to follow. Their outrageous behavior is governed by weathery warfare that often heaves and tosses over half a continent.

As a rule, the path of a tornado is determined by the prevailing westerly winds. However, it usually is zigzagged by breezes and drafts within a tumultuous storm overhead. When the deadly twister touches the ground, it tends to rage along toward the northeast, twisting from side to side as it goes.

All its raging tantrums are dictated by the major storm which gave it birth, the spinning earth, the sun and the distant sea. In North America, the major storm begins when warm moist air builds up over the Gulf of Mexico  and decides to move northward.    Along the Mississippi Valley, it meets and tries to run under a mass of cool heavier air.

Weather warfare begins when conflicting air masses of this sort meet and clash. In this case, meteorologists suspect that pockets of the coal heavier air aloft try to sink down. Meantime, drafts of light warm air start rising aloft from the lower level. These updrafts are potential tornadoes.

Here and there, the heavier air around a rising updraft rushes in at a fast rate  and the spinning earth twists its winds around in a rotating spiral. North of the equator, all winds are veered to the right and a tornado spins in a clockwise direction. The winds spiraling toward the center create an updraft of a tornado somewhat like a powerful vacuum cleaner.

The breezy pocket sucks in dusky cloud material and begins to dip a dark funnel shaped finger toward the ground. Driven by the prevailing winds that also drive the stormy cloud, it squirms like a snake. When and if it reaches the ground, the prevailing wind and the turbulent cloud continue to direct its snaky path.    

It may travel along at 25 m.p.h. or as fast as 45 m.p.h.  and its devastating path of destruction may be a quarter of a mile wide. As a rule, this wildest of wild storms cannot travel very far. But in less than a minute it can reduce a proud city block to a heap of ruins.