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The old scale lists an F5 tornado as wind speeds of 261–318 mph (420–512 km/h), while the new scale lists an EF5 as a tornado with winds above 200 mph (322 km/h), found to be sufficient to cause the damage previously ascribed to the F5 range of wind speeds. None of the tornadoes in the United States recorded before February 1, 2007, were re ...
The new scale more accurately matches wind speeds to the severity of damage caused by the tornado. [8] Though each damage level is associated with a wind speed, the Fujita scale is effectively a damage scale, and the wind speeds associated with the damage listed are not rigorously verified.
A tornado near Red Rock, Oklahoma, was monitored by scientists using a portable Doppler weather radar, an experimental radar device that measures wind speed. Near the tornado's peak intensity, they recorded a wind speed of 115–120 meters per second (260–270 miles per hour; 410–430 kilometers per hour).
Here's how tornadoes are rated on the Enhanced Fujita scale and what those ratings mean.
Late-May 1998 tornado outbreak and derecho – DOW recorded maximum wind speeds at 264 mph (425 km/h) at 160 ft (49 m) above ground level, which the NWS classified at almost ground level. Such wind speeds would fall well into the EF5 range on the Enhanced Fujita Scale, though the maximum damage intensity observed in the town of Spencer was F4.
An EF1 tornado has wind speeds ranging from 86 to 100 mph. An EF2 tornado has wind speeds ranging from 111 to 135 mph, and winds of that force can cause some significant damage.
For comparison, the strongest detected winds in a United States tornado (during the 1999 Oklahoma tornado outbreak) would be T11 using the following formulas: v = 2.365 (T+4) 3/2 m/s v = 8.511 (T+4) 3/2 km/h v = 5.289 (T+4) 3/2 mph v = 4.596 (T+4) 3/2 kn. where v is wind speed and T is TORRO intensity number. Wind speed is defined as a 3-second ...
Some of the most notorious twisters in U.S. history were wedge tornadoes, including the EF5 that leveled Joplin, Missouri, on May 22, 2011, and the El Reno tornado, which was a jaw-dropping 2.6 ...