The first step in forming a tornado is having the weather and land conditions just right. Though tornadoes can touch down anywhere, they are more likely to develop in areas like the Great Plains; flat, and with a mixture of warm, wet air and cold, dry air.
To create a tornado there must be a thunderstorm. To create a thunderstorm there must be a collection of unstable air with moist air present. This air is the result of cold dry air in the upper atmosphere and warm moist air in the lower atmosphere. For these air masses to combine there needs to be a force. This force could come from mountain winds, air fronts, or convergences where water and land meet. The warm air in the lower atmosphere rises causing an updraft leading to a combination with the heavier cold air. This force mixes the two types of air to create instability.
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Clouds form when sunlight warms the earth and water evaporates. When this warm moist air rises, it cools and expands. Cool air can’t contain as much water vapor as warm air, so vapor will condense. The condensed water vapor lands on pieces of dust that are floating in air and creates a droplet around each particle. When large amounts of these particles come together they become a cloud. Clouds associated with thunderstorms, known as Columbinus clouds, are clouds that were created by the water vapor rising due to powerful upward air currents.
The cloud releases droplets when they become too heavy to stay in up in the atmosphere. The droplets fall to the ground as either rain, snow, sleet or hail. While the cloud is releasing moisture there is an updraft of the lighter moist warm air from the ground. This updraft keeps the thunderstorm from dispersing. The warm air rising interacts with the cold air in the atmosphere causing a down draft. This downdraft makes larger droplets