F5+ tornado?
May 27, 2009
in
Tornado Questions
Is it possible for there to be a tornado above a rating of an F5? What if there was a really awful tornado that was worse than any tornado ever?
Just wondering. =]
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7 comments
Antoine F on May 27, 2009 at 9:08 am
Yes and No. True, there can be tornados stronger than an F5 according to the Fujita Scale, but the folks who control the Fujita scale say that the tornado will still be considered an F5, even if it exceeded the expectatioins for an F5 because there's no other category pass it and it will cause confusion.
sophia on May 27, 2009 at 9:08 am
I suppose there could be.
tentofield on May 27, 2009 at 9:08 am
No. On the Fujita scale F5 is open ended. Despite movies like Twister (which had F5 tornadoes three years before Fujita had invented the scale) F5 tornadoes are very rare . You can't get a tornado stronger than F5. The scale is based on the damage caused by the tornado and once you have total destruction (F5), it doesn't matter what the tornado does after that.
Wisdom Cube on May 27, 2009 at 9:08 am
Actually, they just replaced the Fujita Scale with the Enhanced Fujita Scale. It addresses many of the shortcomings of the old scale. It makes estimates of tornado strength much more accurate, and it also lowers the estimated wind speeds. EF5 is defined as >200 mph instead of 260-317 mph. The scale goes from 0 to 5.
D_DOg on May 27, 2009 at 9:08 am
no f5 is the worst caterogy ever
alice k on May 27, 2009 at 9:08 am
no
John G on May 27, 2009 at 9:08 am
Actually the National Weather Service considered declaring the Xenia, Ohio tornado an F-6 because the devastation was worse then any other tornado they had observed but they didn't do it. But I think an F-6 declaration could happen.