Every year tornadoes rip through the countryside and hurricanes attack the coast, taking people’s lives and damaging entire comm
unities. Tornadoes and hurricanes may well be two of the most destructive forces on Earth. Both tornadoes and hurricanes are types of cyclones, air masses that spin around an area of low pressure. Tornadoes stem from thunderclouds that occur over land. Tornadoes most commonly form in the heart of the United States. Texas, Oklahoma, and Kansas are part of a region known as Tornado Alley because so many tornadoes occur there. Hurricanes, on the other hand, form at sea. They take shape in the Atlantic Ocean and most commonly affect the Caribbean. Hurricanes can sweep the eastern seaboard from Florida to New England.
Tornadoes reach higher wind speeds than hurricanes. A tornado’s winds range from forty miles per hour to nearly three hundred miles per hour, while hurricane winds range from seventy-three miles per hour to about two hundred miles per hour. Meteorologists record several tornadoes each year with speeds close to three hundred miles per hour. Two factors make hurricanes more destructive than tornadoes: the difference in the size of each storm and the length of time each storm can last. Tornadoes are smaller in size and duration than hurricanes. A tornado seldom becomes larger than .25 miles in diameter, although the diameter can range from twenty feet to one mile. It travels an average of seven to eight miles before dissipating. A hurricane, however, can extend more than five hundred miles in diameter and can affect thousands of square miles and millions of people. While tornadoes usually do not last longer than a few minutes, a hurricane may last weeks, causing flooding, torrential rainfall, and billions of dollars in property damage. A tornado warning, the period when a tornado has been seen or is highly likely, generally lasts only forty-five minutes.
Even though a hurricane can cause more damage than a tornado, both are deadly, violent storms. Hurricanes and tornadoes destroy lives and property and demand our respect.
Which of these words from the paragraph is NOT a transitional word or phrase?
