A tornado is a rapidly rotating column of air that collides with the Earth's surface as well as a cumulonimbus cloud or, in rare occasions, the base of a cumulus cloud. Although the term cyclone is used in meteorology to describe a weather phenomenon having a low-pressure depression in the center around which winds blow counterclockwise in the Northern Hemisphere and clockwise in the Southern Hemisphere, it is often referred to as a twister, whirlwind, or cyclone.

Tornadoes typically have wind speeds of less than 180 km/h (110 mph), are around 80 meters in diameter (250 feet), and travel several kilometers (a few miles) before disintegrating. Tornadoes can reach wind speeds of more than 480 km/h (300 mph), have a diameter of more than 3 km (2 miles), and stay on the ground for more than 100 kilometers (dozens of miles).

Check out this surreal first-person view footage of world champion drone racer Captain Vanover intercepting a tornado west of Crowell, Texas on May 4, 2022!