What is a Fujita Scale?
The Fujita Scale (F-Scale), also known as the Fujita-Pearson Scale, is a scale used for assigning an intensity rating to tornadoes. The rating assigned to a given tornado is based on the amount of damage the tornado causes to vegetation, landscape, and artificial structures. In 1971, Tetsuya Theodore “Ted” Fujita of the University of Chicago, in association with Allen Pearson, first introduced the scale. At the time, Pearson was the head of the National Severe Storms Forecast Center, the forerunner of the Storm Prediction Center, in Kansas City, Missouri. After a tornado, engineers and meteorologists assign an official Fujita rating to the cyclone following visual surveys of the area. These surveys are performed by land and/or ground, depending on the circumstances and accessibility. Ground-swirl patterns called “cycloidal marks” may also be used to determine the tornado’s intensity. Eyewitness accounts, media reports and recordings, and radio tracking may also be used in order to accu
