Tornadoes

Tornadoes form when cold air flows on top of warm, wet air. If strong winds set the updraft spinning, it can turn into a tornado.

With tornadoes, it is impossible to forecast the time and location of a tornado, so that wheather conditions that may form tornadoes develop, general warnings are sent. The Torro scale, is a tornado intensity scale. Torro 1 is mild, Torro 12 is a super tornado. Even steel-reinforced buildings can be seriously damaged in a super tornado.

This tornado killed two people.

There is also the scale Fujita. F5 is the severest tornado in this scale.

Tornadoes suck up anything in their path, including cars, trees, and buildings. When the tornadoes fade, whatever they sucked up comes down. This could be the source of strange "rain"... like frogs falling. When a tornado passes over water, it can suck up small fish and frogs, later dropping them.
A tornado, if it forms over water, is called a waterspout. When these tornadoes touch the water, water is sucked up into the spinning wind.

Yazoo City Tornado

Interesting fact: The air pressure in the center of a tornado is way less than normal air pressure... so buildings may explode as air inside bursts out to the low pressure.

from teacher.scholastic.com

Chukar

What is a Chukar? If you saw the post Badinage, you see I like weird names.
Alectoris chukar is the scientific name of a type of partridge that is relatively common in the Great Basin. Chukars are not native to America. They are an introduced game bird from Eurasia.

a Chukar

They inhabit rocky canyons, slopes, and cliffs. Chukars feed on seeds, leaves, insects, and fruit, usually on the ground. They are about 14 inches in length, and have a wingspan of about 21 inches.

Silhouette of a Chukar

Chukars lay 10-21 eggs per clutch.

This is the range of chukars:

Chukar Range Map