Home▸Meteorology & Weather Patterns▸Vortex Stretching: Tornado Formation Simulator

Vortex Stretching: Tornado Formation Simulator

Interactive vortex-stretching simulator: watch a broad, slow-spinning mesocyclone column stretch vertically and narrow into a fast tornado funnel as angular momentum (L = I·ω) is conserved, with stretching rate, initial radius and velocity vectors tunable in real time.

Meteorology & Weather Patterns3DModerate60 FPS💨 Air & Wind

A supercell's mesocyclone starts as a broad column of air rotating gently, several kilometres wide. This simulator visualizes the mechanical trick that turns that slow rotation into a tornado: vortex stretching. A column of particles begins wide and slow, then is squeezed vertically and radially, exactly as an updraft's convergence squeezes a real mesocyclone. Because angular momentum L = I·ω is conserved for each parcel, shrinking the radius forces the rotation rate up — sharply, since I depends on r². Adjust the stretching rate and initial radius to see how much a given squeeze speeds the core up, and toggle velocity vectors to watch the spin-up happen in real time.

⚙ Under the hood

A supercell mesocyclone starts as a broad, slowly rotating column of air. This simulator visualizes vortex stretching: the column is squeezed vertically and radially, and because angular momentum L = I*omega is conserved, shrinking the radius forces the rotation rate to spike, turning the slow mesocyclone into a fast tornado core. Adjust the stretching rate and initial radius and watch velocity vectors track the spin-up in real time.

Three.jsVortex StretchingAngular MomentumTornadoMeteorology

3D · Three.js / WebGL renderer · 60 FPS target · runs fully client-side, no install