How is the strength of a tornado determined?
The most common and practical way to determine the strength of a tornado is to look at the damage it caused. From the damage, we can estimate wind speeds. Professor Theodore Fujita developed a scale to help us evaluate damage and classify tornadoes. In summary, the Fujita Scale ranges from F0-F5. F0 tornadoes have winds of 40-72 mph and can break branches off of trees and damage signs. F5 tornadoes have winds from 261-318 mph, which can lift houses off foundations, and make automobiles as dangerous as a missile flying through the air. A more complete listing of the scale can be found at — www.tornadoproject.com , and click on “The Fujita Scale” either in the menu to the left or at the bottom. An “Enhanced Fujita Scale” will be implemented by the National Weather Service by February, 2007. In a nutshell, the enhanced F scale was developed to rate tornadoes in a more consistent and accurate manner. It will still rate tornado categories from F0 to F5, but the ranges of wind speed in each
The most common and practical way to determine the strength of a tornado is to look at the damage it caused. From the damage, we can estimate the wind speeds. An “Enhanced Fujita Scale” was implemented by the National Weather Service in 2007 to rate tornadoes in a more consistent and accurate manner. The EF-Scale takes into account more variables than the original Fujita Scale (F-Scale) when assigning a wind speed rating to a tornado, incorporating 28 damage indicators such as building type, structures and trees. For each damage indicator, there are 8 degrees of damage ranging from the beginning of visible damage to complete destruction of the damage indicator. The original F scale did not take these details into account. The original F Scale historical data base will not change. An F5 tornado rated years ago is still an F5, but the wind speed associated with the tornado may have been somewhat less than previously estimated. A correlation between the original F Scale and the EF Scale h
