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A tornado has an effective area of destruction about the size of a city block.

Tornado

A hurricane spans several hundred kilometers.

Hurricane Isabel

However, there doesn't seem to be a continuum between the two. Why are there no vortex windstorms on the scale of a city? Is it because tornadoes and hurricanes have different formation mechanisms? Or is there a reason why city-sized vortices would be so weak as to be un-newsworthy?

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    $\begingroup$ Hurricanes and tornadoes are both spinny things associated with cumulus clouds but that is where the similarities stop. Different dynamics are at work between these phenomena. $\endgroup$
    – casey
    Commented Jul 8, 2014 at 22:09
  • $\begingroup$ @casey tornados don’t necessarily associate with cumulus $\endgroup$
    – Harrychink
    Commented Jul 20 at 8:26

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Tornadoes are the result of small-scale effects such as the convergence of updraft/downdraft regions in a single thunderstorm, the stretching or entrainment of vertical vorticity, wind shear profiles, and even friction with the ground.

Hurricanes rely on massive amounts of latent heat release from an atmosphere moistened by warm ocean waters causing rising air and lower pressure over a wide area. This allows the Coriolis effect to act, sculpting airflow into a spiral pattern. Under normal conditions, the Coriolis effect is only applicable over a large area (don't get me started on the toilet myth).

There are some intermediate types of circulations. A mesocyclone is roughly city-sized (and these are often associated with tornadoes). A mesoscale convective vortex can form out of a thunderstorm complex and are roughly state-sized (usually more of an Indiana than a Texas). There have been very small hurricanes and typhoons (look up Tropical Storm Marco or Typhoon Tracy).

Extending the scale upward, the normal "synoptic" low pressure systems associated with cold and warm fronts and usually bigger than hurricanes, and upper-level circulations can be continent-sized.

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there actually is a continuum of size , examples include mesovortices and remnant lows

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    $\begingroup$ these do tend to be weaker however as the large size of hurricanes are able to collect a larger amount of energy and a combination of vortex stretching and vortex mergers allows for tornados to produce extreme wind speeds ,somewtimes exceeding even those produced by hurricanes $\endgroup$
    – Harrychink
    Commented Mar 20 at 23:48
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    $\begingroup$ they are also less visually impressive as the pressure change is not rapid enough to produce a condensation funnel and they are not large enough to have a prominent eye $\endgroup$
    – Harrychink
    Commented Mar 21 at 0:17

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