Final answer:
The rapid and extreme destruction depicted in movies involving tornadoes and tidal waves is highly exaggerated and not consistent with the realities of weather patterns and phenomena. While tornadoes and storms have significant destructive capacities, they do not operate on the scale or speed as depicted in such films.
Step-by-step explanation:
In the fictitious scenarios portrayed in movies, where tornadoes devastate Los Angeles or a massive tidal wave engulfs New York City followed by rapid freezing, the speed and magnitude of these events are highly exaggerated. In reality, while tornadoes, like those described in Figure 10.1, have immense destructive power and can produce winds up to 500 km/h, causing significant damage, they are typically localized events and do not have the capacity to flatten an entire city like Los Angeles. Similarly, storm surges from hurricanes, as seen with Hurricane Irene in Figure 8.13, can lead to significant flooding, but a tidal wave of the magnitude to engulf an entire city like New York is not consistent with historical data, and freezing the city instantly is beyond current meteorological phenomena. Extreme weather events like these are often the result of a combination of factors including Earth's tilted axis, rotation, and liquid oceans, which can lead to violent weather as mentioned in the satellite image description of Hurricane Irene. Additionally, understanding the impact of natural disasters and the human response to them is critical, as highlighted by the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and the Texas freeze episode, where preparedness and response are tantamount to mitigating the effects of such events.