How is a tornado measured? What does it mean when they say the tornado was an F5?
The Fujita scale, developed by the late Dr. T. Theodore Fujita at the University of Chicago, ranks tornadoes from F0 to F5, with F0 indicating a tornado that does light damage and has wind speeds up to 73 mph. An F5 tornado does incredible damage and has wind speeds greater than 261 mph. Only 2 percent of tornadoes reach the F5 level. It is VERY important to note that the Fujita scale is based on OBSERVED DAMAGE, and not recorded or estimated wind speeds. The most widely used method worldwide, for over three decades, was the F-scale developed by Dr. T. Theodore Fujita at the University of Chicago. In the U.S., and probably elsewhere within a few years, the new Enhanced F-scale is becoming the standard for assessing tornado damage. In Britain, there is a scale similar to the original F-scale but with more divisions; for more info, go to the TORRO scale website. In both original F- and TORRO-scales, the wind speeds are based on calculations of the Beaufort wind scale and have never been
