Supercell thunderstorms, and the tornadoes they spawn, are considered. Consistency with current research trends within the disciplines of meteorology and geophysics is neglected in the pursuit of a broader framework that can directly address the large number of anomalies in the existing theories. Specifically, the common assumption that electromagnetism is too weak to influence the dynamics of supercells is challenged. A new theory is proposed, based on the facts that there is a toroidal airflow within the storm, and that such air is bearing negatively-charged precipitation. This flow of charged particles constitutes a pole-less, closed-loop electric current, in toroidal form. The general properties of toroidal electric currents are reviewed, and then applied to the study of supercells. A construct involving a magnetically-pinched negative charge stream, in toroidal form, surrounded by a positive double-layer, is used to account for a broad range of properties of supercells. Most significantly, the expected behaviors of the positive double-layer, traveling down around the outside, and up through the inside of the storm, offer an explanation for the driving forces in tornadoes. The present work agrees that the fundamental source of energy in a tornado is the low pressure under the supercell's updraft. But the defining characteristic of a tornadic vortex is that it attaches to the surface of the Earth, and this cannot be explained with thermodynamics. The only possible conclusion is that some other force must be present, and the only other force operative in the atmosphere is electromagnetism. Previous works considered the possibility that electrostatic discharges between the ground and the cloud could cause tornadoes, but an electric field powerful enough to drive something as energetic as a tornado is simply not present. The only remaining possibility is electrodynamics. If a positive double-layer builds up around the outside of the cloud, then at the bottom of the cloud this double-layer will get rammed down to the ground, and then skidded along the ground toward the centerline of the mesocyclone. As a charged double-layer, it will be repelled from the cloud by the opposing magnetic fields generated by negative and positive charges traveling in the same direction. If the tornadic inflow is being repelled from the cloud, it becomes easy to understand how the tornado attaches to the surface. A vortex is not an entity, but rather, a condition in a medium. Whatever the vortex is doing is what the medium is doing. If a vortex attaches to a boundary, defying the principles of thermodynamics, then some other force must be present that is attaching the medium to the boundary. The only physical possibility is that the tornadic inflow is positively-charged, paralleling the motion of negatively-charged precipitation in a toroidal flow within the cloud, and that the opposing magnetic fields are pushing the tornadic inflow down to the surface.

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