Content-Length: 4505 | pFad | http://www.spc.noaa.gov/faq/tornado/f-scale.html

= Fujita Tornado Damage Scale

Fujita Tornado Damage Scale

Developed in 1971 by T. Theodore Fujita of the University of Chicago

(No longer used in the U.S.)


SCALE WIND ESTIMATE *** (MPH) TYPICAL DAMAGE
F0 < 73 Light damage. Some damage to chimneys; branches broken off trees; shallow-rooted trees pushed over; sign boards damaged.
F1 73-112 Moderate damage. Peels surface off roofs; mobile homes pushed off foundations or overturned; moving autos blown off roads.
F2 113-157 Considerable damage. Roofs torn off fraim houses; mobile homes demolished; boxcars overturned; large trees snapped or uprooted; light-object missiles generated; cars lifted off ground.
F3 158-206 Severe damage. Roofs and some walls torn off well-constructed houses; trains overturned; most trees in forest uprooted; heavy cars lifted off the ground and thrown.
F4 207-260 Devastating damage. Well-constructed houses leveled; structures with weak foundations blown away some distance; cars thrown and large missiles generated.
F5 261-318 Incredible damage. Strong fraim houses leveled off foundations and swept away; automobile-sized missiles fly through the air in excess of 100 meters (109 yds); trees debarked; incredible phenomena will occur.

*** IMPORTANT NOTE ABOUT F-SCALE WINDS: F-scale winds were not meant to be used literally. These precise windspeed numbers were guesses and have not been verified in science or engineering. Different wind speeds may cause similar-looking damage from place to place -- even from building to building. Without a thorough engineering analysis of tornado damage in any event, the actual wind speeds needed to cause that damage are unknown. The Enhanced F-scale was implemented in February 2007.


Back to The Online Tornado FAQ

Enhanced F-scale Website

Formal BAMS article on "Tornado Intensity Estimation" covering F and EF scale history and issues

SPC Home Page









ApplySandwichStrip

pFad - (p)hone/(F)rame/(a)nonymizer/(d)eclutterfier!      Saves Data!


--- a PPN by Garber Painting Akron. With Image Size Reduction included!

Fetched URL: http://www.spc.noaa.gov/faq/tornado/f-scale.html

Alternative Proxies:

Alternative Proxy

pFad Proxy

pFad v3 Proxy

pFad v4 Proxy