Do tornados and hurricanes do anything good for the environment?

Question

I live in "Tornado Alley" , and have seen the highly destructive aspects of these storms. I also know that everything else destructive in Nature also does something good - for example forest fires promote new growth, etc. So what good comes from these storms - and on the flip side - what would the environment be like if they didn't happen? Just curious, that's all.

Answer 1

No....haaha

Answer 2

Basically all storms (thunderstorms, hurricanes, etc) are processes of the atmosphere that serve to restore energy balance between the surface and the upper atmosphere.  The absorption of solar radiation at the surface and the subsequent heating of the surface creates or increases the imbalance of heat, and convection (storms) act to remove the excess heat from the surface.  Without them the world would be a significantly hotter place.  I wish the storms could do that without those tornadic side effects.