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What would happen to a tornado if a Large, Immovable, Unbreakable and Obsidian Cube was in its path?

The tornado is on a flat plain... but is heading towards the cube.

By large, I mean the length of the cube's edges is as long as half the width/height of the tornado, whichever is larger.

Or is this more Physics, instead, of Earth Science?

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    $\begingroup$ You might approach an answer by asking why tornados almost always (AFAIK, anyway) form over flatlands, rather than mountains. $\endgroup$ – jamesqf May 4 '15 at 4:48
  • $\begingroup$ @jamesqf - Why would that help? $\endgroup$ – Malady May 4 '15 at 12:52
  • $\begingroup$ @jamesqf ustornadoes.com/2013/03/14/… $\endgroup$ – casey♦ May 4 '15 at 13:08
  • $\begingroup$ @Malandy: Because mountains are pretty fair approximations to large, unbreakable cubes. $\endgroup$ – jamesqf May 5 '15 at 18:10
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It depends.

Take a look at this recorded presentation from the 27th Conference on Severe Local Storms by David C. Lewellen and the accompanying pre-print. This talk focuses on the effect of buildings on tornadoes though the buildings are examined as fixed blocks they are not modified or damaged, but remain a fixed obstacle to the tornado (he toward the end does show that he models forces of the tornado on the building but does not allow that to change the building).

The effect of the block depends on whether the tornado is high or low swirl, the relative position of the block to the tornado and the size of the tornado. The block weakened some tornadoes and strengthened others.

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  • $\begingroup$ I didn't actually think something like that would exist, 'cause the idea that a building is a fixed block is, I thought, totally unrealistic... $\endgroup$ – Malady May 4 '15 at 13:14
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    $\begingroup$ @Malandy it is much easier to model the buildings as fixed objects to get first order effects than it is to allow then to be deformed/destroyed and add all of the debris to the model. Using fixed buildings also allows you to see how the resulting change in dynamics modified the tornado. $\endgroup$ – casey♦ May 4 '15 at 13:17

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