Is a Tornado Warning Worse Than a Tornado Watch?

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration issues tornado watches and warnings. Tornadoes are violently rotating columns of air. They are very dangerous storms that cause an average of 70 deaths in the United States per year. Tornadic winds have been registered as high as 250 miles per hour, and swaths of destruction a mile wide have been created by tornadoes that have stayed on the ground for over 50 miles.