Behind you,
a colossal hurricane,
moments away from making landfall.
In front of you,
a towering tornado,
fast-tracking its way
toward the opposing storm.
And you.
Time’s run out.
Escape is futile.
Hurricanes are formed
when a weather disturbance,
such as a thunderstorm,
moves across an ocean
warmer than 26.5 °C (80 °F).
The storm pulls in hot and humid air
from the warm waters,
and condensation continuously
feeds the hurricane
with more and more clouds
Cooler air rushes in
to fill up the low air pressure zone
left by all that hot air being forced upward,
creating ferocious winds in the process.
A category 5 hurricane,
the biggest among them,
has a wind speed of 252 km/h (157 mph).
And it brings with it
the potential for catastrophic damage
backed by storm surges
as high as 8 m (19 ft).
And then you have a tornado.
These are rotating columns of wind,
extending from the ground
all the way up to a thunderstorm.
Every one of them
requires a supercell to form.
Also know as a giant storm.
Tornadoes can stretch
as wide as 460 m (1,509 ft).
And although they tend to last
less than 10 minutes on average,
their destructive winds
can be well over 320 km/h (200 mph).
A big part of this showdown
would come down to
which of these two is more powerful.
In terms of pure might,
a tornado's winds
can be stronger than a hurricane's.
And yet hurricanes, unlike tornadoes,
last for days instead of just minutes.
They are also much larger
and tend to cause a lot more damage.
It is also not uncommon
for tornadoes to form from hurricanes
and their giant thunderstorms.
If you were trapped in a really big tempest
you could even witness what seems like
a whole group of tornadoes
colliding with each other.
Merging and breaking apart.
That's what scientists call
a multi-vortex tornado.
It's a single tornado that has formed
anywhere from two to five funnel clouds,
rotating around each other.
On the other hand,
hurricanes could technically
come in contact with each other.
If two of them end up
less than 1,500 km (900 mi) apart,
they may start to rotate around each other
in what’s known as the Fujiwara effect.
Or, more fittingly,
the Fujiwara dance.
Now, if two hurricanes come within
300 km (190 mi) of each other,
the stronger one
can absorb the smaller one.
This is what happened in 1995,
when Hurricane Iris
and Tropical Storm Karen
came in close contact.
The two rotated, I mean,
danced, around each other
before the tougher Iris
swallowed poor Karen.
But let’s get to the encounter
we're all here for.
A tornado and a hurricane
meeting head to head.
What would it feel to witness their clash?
Well, as the hurricane
was approaching you,
you'd see a rainstorm.
It would be accompanied by strong winds
and the eerie sound
of early warning sirens.
The gusts of wind would build up
until they roared.
Only yelling would allow you
to communicate with others.
Sooner rather than later
you’d have a hard time
remaining on your feet.
Trees would bend, break and
even be ripped straight out of the ground.
Roofs would be torn off
in your neighborhood
and fly away like paper airplanes,
along with that car you’ve yet to pay off.
Uh, bye bye.
I mean, not that you’d be able
to witness it.
The rain would be coming down so hard
it would be nearly impossible
to see anything at all.
And then you'd see it.
The massive tornado.
As they got closer,
the two storms would start
to orbit around each other
in an epic Fujiwara dance-off.
This swirling whirlwind of an encounter
between destructive foes
would then end
with two possible outcomes.
The tornado and the hurricane
splitting apart from their dance
and going their own way.
Or the sheer size of the hurricane
absorbing the tornado vortex.
Which, I'm sorry to say,
wouldn't be too exciting.
The tornado's funnel would just dry up
and go back into the clouds.
In this case,
the hurricane would emerge the winner.
But, despite the power
of its former dance partner,
the hurricane's victory
wouldn't even make it any stronger
Remember, hurricanes can only
feed themselves from warm ocean water,
not from other storms like tornadoes.
Not that it means you're out of danger.
You'd still better hurry and take shelter.
Otherwise, you'd go flying through the air
alongside all those
newly destroyed rooftops.
And although we didn’t end up
witnessing a 'hurr-nado,'
the sight of either of these
natural disasters should tell you
it's time to run for cover.
But if you’re still craving
fireworks and mayhem,
how about dumping an active volcano
into the path of your tornado?
Well, I hope you’re in the mood
for a spinning vortex from hell
because that’s a story for another What If.