VERIFY QUESTION

The National Weather Service officially ranked the tornado Sunday, April 15 as an EF2. It maintained that strength, as it crossed 30 miles into Greensboro and then Rockingham County.

While we've talked a lot about how fast it rotated, how about in what direction it rotated? Did you know -- all tornadoes in the northern hemisphere rotate counterclockwise, and tornadoes in the southern hemisphere rotate clockwise?

VERIFY SOURCE

To VERIFY, we consulted WFMY News 2 meteorologist Eric Chilton.

VERIFY PROCESS

He explained because the earth rotates, circulating air is deflected at an angle. The air will deflect toward the right in the northern hemisphere and the left in the southern hemisphere. Because of the deflection, called the Coriolis Effect, winds go the opposite direction. Tornadoes almost always rotate counterclockwise (cyclonic) north of the equator and clockwise (anti-cyclonic) south of the equator.

The same is applicable to hurricanes / cyclones -- they rotate counterclockwise in the northern hemisphere and clockwise in the southern hemisphere.

VERIFY RECAP

Rotational weather phenomenons spin counterclockwise north of the equator and clockwise south of the equator.