Sharon Horsley, Age 13, Of Hinton, Ia., for her question:

What causes the vacuum in a tornado?

Tornadoes tend to form in numbers along the squalling weather front of conflicting air masses. They are caused by several factors, and experts are not surf how these weather items work together to form rashes of these furious little storms. But each tornado is centered around a column of rising air. Warm gases expand, spread out and become thinner. Warm air near the ground rises aloft in light columns and updrafts. And air, like water, tends to flow or blow in to fill up a hole or thin spot.

The funnel of a tornado is a column of faster than fast rising air so light that it creates an almost vacuum. The surrounding air rushes in from all sides and it, too, is whisked aloft. The spin of the earth sends the small pocket of winds spiraling around and the tornado becomes a twister.