Page 6 -

XTENSIVE
DESTRUCTION

Tornadoes are rated on

the Enhanced Fujita

scale. A tornado is not
rated until after it

falls apart. Rank is

determined by damage.

Rating Tornadoes

Winds in a tornado are difficult to measure.
Anemometers are almost always blown away. Instead,
wind speed is estimated based on damages. The Enhanced
Fujita, or EF, scale uses a list of buildings and

damages. This list allows tornadoes to be rated
consistently.
An EF0 tornado has the weakest winds. Its damages
are usually light. EF5 tornadoes are the strongest.

Their damages are described as incredible. An EF5
tornado can sweep away well-built houses. It can
toss car-sized debris more than 109 yards (100 m).
EF5 tornadoes are also quite rare. Typically, no more

than one EF5 tornado a year touches down in the U.S. No
matter how strong, whenever these spinning columns
touch down, damage is almost guaranteed.

24