Additional difficulties in rating a tornado occur when it passes. Enhanced fujita scale simple english wikipedia, the free. Scale and to improve and eliminate some of the limitations. Enhanced fujita scale report texas tech university. Operational use began in the united states on february 1, 2007, followed by canada on april 1, 20. The enhanced fujita scale ef scale rates the intensity of tornadoes in some countries, including the united states and canada, based on the damage they cause the enhanced fujita scale replaced the decommissioned fujita scale that was introduced in 1971 by ted fujita. The weakest tornadoes on this scale are classified ef0, and the strongest storms are classified ef5. When tornadorelated damage is surveyed, it is compared to a list of damage indicators dis and degrees of damage dod which help estimate better the range of wind speeds the tornado likely produced. On the implementation of the enhanced fujita scale in. The primary limitations include a lack of damage indicators, no account of construction quality and variability, and no definitive. This was by far the most devastating tornado in the enhanced fujita scale era since its establishment in 2007, but it was also one of the top ten deadliest tornadoes in u.
Background nws personnel who are responsible for rating tornadoes have expressed frustrations in applying the fujita scale in a consistent and accurate manner. In the fujita scale, there is a lack of clearly defined and easily identifiable damage indicators. The enhanced fujita scale is a tornado category scale used for united states and canadian tornadoes that began being used by national weather service on february 1, 2007 and in canada in april 20. A recommendation for an enhanced fujita scale efscale. Pdf although the fujita scale has been in use for 30 years, the limitations of the scale are well known to its users. The fujita scale the fujita scale is a well known scale that uses damage caused by a tornado and relates the damage to the fastest 14mile wind at the height of a damaged structure. A sixlevel numerical, damagebased classification of estimated wind speeds. The enhanced fujita scale or ef scale, which became operational on february. The official fujita scale category is determined by meteorologists and engineers after a ground andor aerial damage inspection. The fujita scale is a scale used for rating tornado strength, based on the damage tornadoes cause on humanbuilt buildings and vegetation. Tornado rating in europe with the enhanced fujita scale. Background nws personnel, who are responsible for rating tornadoes, have expressed frustrations in applying the fujita scale in a consistent and accurate manner. The national weather service started using it on february 1, 2007 and in canada in april 20.
The scale replaces the old fujita scale in america. Tornadoes under ef5 label represent winds of 200 miles an hour or stronger. Tornado rating in europe with the enhanced fujita scale keraunos. The enhanced fujita scale ef scale rates the strength of tornadoes in the united states and canada based on the damage they cause implemented in place of the fujita scale introduced in 1971 by tetsuya theodore fujita, it began operational use in the united states on february 1, 2007, followed by canada on april 1, 20. In order to see this more clearly, the characteristics of each scale are detailed below. Fujita scale simple english wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. All structured data from the file and property namespaces is available under the creative commons cc0 license. The enhanced fujita scale or ef scale, which became operational on february 1. Introduced a few new damage indicators after developing experience with wind damage assessment. These updates are listed in the background section on the last page of this publication. The enhanced fujita scale for wind damage rating york university.
Storm prediction center enhanced fujita scale ef scale. Following suspected highwind events, affected areas are surveyed to provide an ef scale rating. For more information, please see the original pdf report by the wind. Members of the advisory committee for tornado intensity. I think any searches for the levels on the enhanced fujita scale should redirect here or to a disambiguation pages that includes this article, as was done for the original fujita scale. However, the ef scale has also been applied to downbursts and tropical. Us, meteorology a scale used to rate the intensity of a tornado.
Wind speeds exceeded 200 mph for a good duration of the storm especially as it ravaged through parts of the most densely populated areas of joplin. The enhanced fujita scale ef scale national weather service. Fujitas scale was designed to connect smoothly the beaufort scale b with the speed of sound atmospheric scale, or mach speed m. Files are available under licenses specified on their description page. The enhanced fujita scale proposed in this document is referred to as the ef scale to distinguish it from the original fujita scale. The enhanced fujita scale is a tornado category scale used to measure tornadoes in the united states and canada. Currently, tornado intensity is classified using the enhanced fujita ef scale, which improves upon the original fujita scale. The enhanced fujita scale or ef scale, which became operational on february 1, 2007, is used to assign a tornado a rating based on estimated wind speeds and related damage. The scale has the same basic design as the original fujita scale six. Ef scale website at the storm prediction center spc 95page pdf. To view the enhanced fujita scale document, go to introduction.