In October 1859, the U.S. military arsenal at Harpers Ferry was the target of an assault by an armed band of abolitionists led by John Brown (1800-59).
A tornado appears as a rotating, funnel-shaped cloud that extends from a thunderstorm to the ground with whirling winds that can reach 300 miles per hour. Damage paths can be in excess of one mile wide and 50 miles long. Some tornadoes are clearly visible, while rain or nearby low-hanging clouds obscure others.t is not uncommon to see clear, sunlit skies behind a tornado. 1  Tornadoes cause an average of 70 fatalities and 1,500 injuries in the U.S. each year. 2  The strongest tornadoes have rotating winds of more than 250 mph.
Most often, a tornado moves from southwest to northeast, but tornadoes have been known to move in any direction. The average speed is about 30 mph but this can vary from nearly stationary to more than 70 mph. Tornadoes are capable of tremendous destruction with wind speeds of 250 mph or more. Damage paths can be wider than one mile and fifty miles in length.