--- title: Storms: thunder, lightning, hurricanes and tornadoes — a lesson of Mova's school · trees and pragmatics description: «Storms: thunder, lightning, hurricanes and tornadoes», a lesson of the world course of Mova's primary school, sentence by sentence with dependency trees and pragmatics. It begins: A thunderstorm grows when warm, damp air rises very fast and cools, building a tall, dark tower of cloud called a cumul --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/world/68-storms-and-wild-winds/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [school](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/) / [World](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/world/) / Storms: thunder, lightning, hurricanes… # Storms: thunder, lightning, hurricanes and tornadoes Lesson 68 of the world course of Mova's primary school: 19 sentences, each with its syntax tree and pragmatics. The lessons are written for Mova, and their agreed trees are part of Mova corpus 0.4 (CC BY-SA 4.0). How Mova does on its tests: [the lesson at school](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/school-run/world/68-storms-and-wild-winds/). - [0](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/world/68-storms-and-wild-winds/0/) — A thunderstorm grows when warm, damp air rises very fast and cools, building a tall, dark tower of cloud called a cumulonimbus, which can reach higher than aeroplanes fly. - [1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/world/68-storms-and-wild-winds/1/) — Lightning is so hot, hotter than the surface of the Sun, that it can split trees and start fires, and it strikes the tallest and nearest paths to the ground, such as trees, towers and people standing in open fields. - [2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/world/68-storms-and-wild-winds/2/) — A hurricane is a giant spinning storm that forms over warm tropical seas: the warm water feeds it with rising damp air, so it grows stronger over the sea and weakens when it moves over land or cold water. - [3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/world/68-storms-and-wild-winds/3/) — In the middle of a hurricane is the eye, a calm area with light winds and often a clear sky, ringed by the strongest winds of all. - [4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/world/68-storms-and-wild-winds/4/) — A tornado is much smaller but can be even fiercer: a narrow spinning column of air that reaches down from a thunderstorm cloud to the ground and may destroy one street while leaving the next one untouched. - [5](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/world/68-storms-and-wild-winds/5/) — For example, when a hurricane comes ashore, its winds push the sea up into a wall of water called a storm surge, and this flooding is often more dangerous than the wind itself. - [6](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/world/68-storms-and-wild-winds/6/) — Thunderstorms grow in tall cumulonimbus clouds where warm, damp air rises fast. - [7](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/world/68-storms-and-wild-winds/7/) — A lightning bolt is hotter than the surface of the Sun. - [8](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/world/68-storms-and-wild-winds/8/) — Lightning can strike the same place more than once, and tall objects are struck most often. - [9](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/world/68-storms-and-wild-winds/9/) — The safest place in a thunderstorm is inside a building or a car with a metal roof. - [10](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/world/68-storms-and-wild-winds/10/) — Hurricanes form over warm tropical seas and get their energy from the warm water. - [11](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/world/68-storms-and-wild-winds/11/) — The same kind of storm is called a hurricane in the Atlantic, a typhoon in the north-west Pacific, near the Philippines and Japan, and a cyclone in the Indian Ocean. - [12](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/world/68-storms-and-wild-winds/12/) — A hurricane spins because the air rushing in towards its middle is turned by the spinning of the Earth. - [13](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/world/68-storms-and-wild-winds/13/) — The eye in the middle of a hurricane is calm, and the strongest winds blow in the wall of cloud around it. - [14](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/world/68-storms-and-wild-winds/14/) — A hurricane can be hundreds of kilometres wide and can last for more than a week. - [15](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/world/68-storms-and-wild-winds/15/) — A tornado is a narrow spinning column of air that reaches from a thunderstorm cloud down to the ground. - [16](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/world/68-storms-and-wild-winds/16/) — Most tornadoes last only minutes, but their winds can be faster than those of any hurricane. - [17](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/world/68-storms-and-wild-winds/17/) — In a tornado the safest place is a small inside room or a basement on the lowest floor, away from windows. - [18](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/world/68-storms-and-wild-winds/18/) — A storm surge is sea water pushed onto the coast by a hurricane's winds. - ← previous: [Clouds, rain, snow and hail](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/world/67-clouds-rain-snow-hail/) - next →: [Wind and the air around the Earth](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/world/69-wind-and-the-atmosphere/) - ↑ back to [World](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/world/)