Dennis Mersereau | @wxdam
Stick to the weather. |
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Meteorologists use damage to estimate the maximum winds of a tornado at any given point. Engineers and meteorologists worked together to figure out how strong winds have to be to cause certain levels of damage.
Dr. Theodore Fujita pioneered the study of tornado damage in the mid-20th century. He developed the Fujita (F) Scale to rate damage to buildings, vehicles, and vegetation on a scale ranging from F0 (weak) to F5 (extreme).
Scientists began using a revamped version of the scale in 2007. This Enhanced Fujita (EF) Scale reflects the fact that objects like homes and trees require much lower wind speeds to incur damage.
The Fujita/Enhanced Fujita scales are damage rating scales. Some ratings are controversial as a result. There are several cases where meteorologists have gotten accurate measurements of a tornado's winds, but couldn't find damage to warrant a higher F/EF-Scale rating.
Scale-topping EF-5 tornadoes probably aren't as rare as they seem. These high-end tornadoes produce maximum winds stronger than 200 mph.
Since the EF-Scale is based on damage, meteorologists have to look for certain levels of destruction amid the rubble in order to assign a tornado its ultimate rating. Very few structures can withstand the 201+ mph winds needed to achieve EF-5 level damage.
Homes are usually uninhabitable and need extensive repairs after an EF-2 tornado. Many homes that suffer EF-3 damage are total losses, and EF-4 damage often causes complete failure of the structure with only the occasional interior room left standing.
An EF-5 tornado scrubs a home clean off its foundation, leaving behind a bare slab in its wake. Given this extreme level of destruction, surveyors have to look for context clues to find EF-5 level damage. This includes things like catastrophic damage to reinforced school buildings and less conventional damage like exceptionally heavy objects lifted and tossed a long distance.
I wrote more about this topic for The Weather Network in April 2024.
DI No. | Damage Indicator (DI) | DI No. | Damage Indicator (DI) |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Small Barns or Farm Outbuildings (SBO) | 15 | Elementary School [Single Story; Interior or Exterior Hallways] (ES) |
2 | One- or Two-Family Residences (FR12) | 16 | Junior or Senior High School (JHSH) |
3 | Manufactured Home – Single Wide (MHSW) | 17 | Low-Rise Building [1-4 Stories] (LRB) |
4 | Manufactured Home – Double Wide (MHDW) | 18 | Mid-Rise Building [5-20 Stories] (MRB) |
5 | Apartments, Condos, Townhouses [3 stories or less] (ACT) | 19 | High-Rise Building [More than 20 Stories] (HRB) |
6 | Motel (M) | 20 | Institutional Building [Hospital, Government or University Building] (IB) |
7 | Masonry Apartment or Motel Building (MAM) | 21 | Metal Building System (MBS) |
8 | Small Retail Building [Fast Food Restaurants] (SRB) | 22 | Service Station Canopy (SSC) |
9 | Small Professional Building [Doctor's Office, Branch Banks] (SPB) | 23 | Warehouse Building [Tilt-up Walls or Heavy-Timber Construction](WHB) |
10 | Strip Mall (SM) | 24 | Electrical Transmission Lines (ETL) |
11 | Large Shopping Mall (LSM) | 25 | Free-Standing Towers (FST) |
12 | Large, Isolated Retail Building [K-Mart, Wal-Mart] (LIRB) | 26 | Free-Standing Light Poles, Luminary Poles, Flag Poles (FSP) |
13 | Automobile Showroom (ASR) | 27 | Trees: Hardwood (TH) |
14 | Automobile Service Building (ASB) | 28 | Trees: Softwood (TS) |
Number | Date | Time | State/Prov. | Fatalities | Injuries | Path Length | Path Width | Number | Date | Time | State/Prov. | Fatalities | Injuries | Path Length | Path Width |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 5/11/1953 | 16:10:00 | Texas | 114 | 597 | 20.9 mi. | 583 yds. | 31 | 4/3/1974 | 17:15:00 | Alabama | 28 | 267 | 52 mi. | 500 yds. |
2 | 5/29/1953 | 17:00:00 | North Dakota | 2 | 20 | 14.8 mi. | 600 yds. | 32 | 4/3/1974 | 18:35:00 | Alabama | 16 | 190 | 83.3 mi. | 500 yds. |
3 | 6/8/1953 | 19:30:00 | Michigan | 116 | 844 | 18.9 mi. | 833 yds. | 33 | 4/3/1974 | 19:50:00 | Alabama | 28 | 272 | 79.5 mi. | 500 yds. |
4 | 6/27/1953 | 15:45:00 | Iowa | 1 | 2 | 0.1 mi. | 100 yds. | 34 | 3/26/1976 | 15:28:00 | Oklahoma | 2 | 64 | 11.9 mi. | 440 yds. |
5 | 12/5/1953 | 17:45:00 | Mississippi | 38 | 270 | 9 mi. | 500 yds. | 35 | 4/19/1976 | 17:30:00 | Texas | 0 | 11 | 10.5 mi. | 440 yds. |
6 | 5/25/1955 | 21:26:00 | Oklahoma | 20 | 280 | 28.4 mi. | 500 yds. | 36 | 6/13/1976 | 14:10:00 | Iowa | 0 | 9 | 21.3 mi. | 880 yds. |
7 | 5/25/1955 | 22:00:00 | Oklahoma | 80 | 273 | 56.4 mi. | 1320 yds. | 37 | 4/4/1977 | 15:00:00 | Alabama | 22 | 130 | 14.7 mi. | 550 yds. |
8 | 4/3/1956 | 16:40:00 | Michigan | 17 | 292 | 58.8 mi. | 400 yds. | 38 | 4/2/1982 | 15:50:00 | Oklahoma | 0 | 29 | 53 mi. | 500 yds. |
9 | 12/18/1957 | 16:35:00 | Illinois | 1 | 6 | 5.4 mi. | 200 yds. | 39 | 6/7/1984 | 23:41:00 | Wisconsin | 9 | 200 | 36 mi. | 450 yds. |
10 | 5/20/1957 | 18:15:00 | Kansas | 44 | 207 | 69.4 mi. | 440 yds. | 40 | 5/31/1985 | 16:30:00 | Ohio | 18 | 310 | 47 mi. | 450 yds. |
11 | 6/20/1957 | 18:40:00 | North Dakota | 10 | 103 | 52.4 mi. | 500 yds. | 41 | 3/13/1990 | 16:34:00 | Kansas | 1 | 60 | 48 mi. | 1320 yds. |
12 | 6/4/1958 | 17:30:00 | Wisconsin | 21 | 74 | 33.7 mi. | 880 yds. | 42 | 3/13/1990 | 17:30:00 | Kansas | 1 | 0 | 22 mi. | 1320 yds. |
13 | 5/5/1960 | 17:00:00 | Oklahoma | 5 | 81 | 71.8 mi. | 800 yds. | 43 | 8/28/1990 | 14:30:00 | Illinois | 29 | 350 | 16.4 mi. | 600 yds. |
14 | 4/3/1964 | 14:35:00 | Texas | 7 | 111 | 4.7 mi. | 500 yds. | 44 | 4/26/1991 | 16:57:00 | Kansas | 17 | 225 | 46 mi. | 440 yds. |
15 | 5/5/1964 | 18:30:00 | Nebraska | 4 | 50 | 79.7 mi. | 880 yds. | 45 | 6/16/1992 | 16:00:00 | Minnesota | 1 | 35 | 16 mi. | 280 yds. |
16 | 5/8/1965 | 17:15:00 | South Dakota | 0 | 1 | 30.1 mi. | 1760 yds. | 46 | 7/18/1996 | 18:05:00 | Wisconsin | 0 | 12 | 13.3 mi. | 400 yds. |
17 | 10/14/1966 | 13:55:00 | Iowa | 6 | 172 | 9.7 mi. | 1000 yds. | 47 | 5/27/1997 | 14:40:00 | Texas | 27 | 12 | 5.1 mi. | 650 yds. |
18 | 3/3/1966 | 18:30:00 | Mississippi | 58 | 518 | 202.5 mi. | 900 yds. | 48 | 4/16/1998 | 15:50:00 | Tennessee | 3 | 36 | 69.4 mi. | 1760 yds. |
19 | 6/8/1966 | 19:00:00 | Kansas | 16 | 450 | 21.1 mi. | 880 yds. | 49 | 4/8/1998 | 18:42:00 | Alabama | 32 | 259 | 30.3 mi. | 1320 yds. |
20 | 4/23/1968 | 15:05:00 | Ohio | 7 | 93 | 34 mi. | 400 yds. | 50 | 5/3/1999 | 17:26:00 | Oklahoma | 36 | 583 | 37 mi. | 1430 yds. |
21 | 5/15/1968 | 15:10:00 | Iowa | 13 | 462 | 62.1 mi. | 600 yds. | 51 | 5/4/2007 | 20:00:00 | Kansas | 11 | 63 | 28.81 mi. | 3000 yds. |
22 | 5/15/1968 | 15:57:00 | Iowa | 5 | 156 | 13.1 mi. | 500 yds. | 52 | 6/22/2007 | 18:35:00 | Manitoba | 0 | 0 | 2.69 mi. | 325 yds. |
23 | 6/13/1968 | 17:50:00 | Minnesota | 9 | 150 | 9.1 mi. | 150 yds. | 53 | 5/25/2008 | 15:48:00 | Iowa | 9 | 70 | 40.97 mi. | 2100 yds. |
24 | 5/11/1970 | 20:35:00 | Texas | 26 | 500 | 8.4 mi. | 1333 yds. | 54 | 4/27/2011 | 13:30:00 | Mississippi | 3 | 6 | 28.28 mi. | 900 yds. |
25 | 2/21/1971 | 14:50:00 | Louisiana | 47 | 510 | 109.2 mi. | 500 yds. | 55 | 4/27/2011 | 14:05:00 | Alabama | 72 | 145 | 132 mi. | 2200 yds. |
26 | 5/6/1973 | 19:25:00 | Texas | 0 | 0 | 10.6 mi. | 100 yds. | 56 | 4/27/2011 | 14:42:00 | Mississippi | 23 | 137 | 37.1 mi. | 1320 yds. |
27 | 4/3/1974 | 13:20:00 | Indiana | 6 | 86 | 68 mi. | 10 yds. | 57 | 4/27/2011 | 17:19:00 | Alabama | 25 | 0 | 36.63 mi. | 1320 yds. |
28 | 4/3/1974 | 13:30:00 | Ohio | 36 | 1150 | 31.3 mi. | 533 yds. | 58 | 5/22/2011 | 16:34:00 | Missouri | 158 | 1150 | 21.62 mi. | 1600 yds. |
29 | 4/3/1974 | 14:20:00 | Kentucky | 31 | 270 | 32 mi. | 440 yds. | 59 | 5/24/2011 | 14:50:00 | Oklahoma | 9 | 181 | 63.1 mi. | 1760 yds. |
30 | 4/3/1974 | 15:20:00 | Indiana | 3 | 210 | 20.8 mi. | 533 yds. | 60 | 5/20/2013 | 13:56:00 | Oklahoma | 24 | 212 | 13.85 mi. | 1900 yds. |
I didn't stick to the weather. |