This is a list of tornadoes rated F5 on the Fujita scale, EF5 on the Enhanced Fujita scale, IF5 on the International Fujita scale [en], or T10-T11 on the TORRO scale, which is equivalent to an F5 rating. These ratings (F5/EF5/IF5/T10/T11) are the highest possible ratings on the various global tornado intensity scales. These various scales attempt to estimate the strength of a tornado by classifying the damage caused to nature and man-made structures in the tornado's path.[note 1][note 2]
Tornadoes are among the most violent known meteorological phenomena. Each year, more than 2,000 tornadoes are recorded worldwide, with the majority occurring in North America and Europe.[8] In order to assess the intensity of these events, meteorologist Ted Fujita created a way to estimate highest wind speeds within tornadic storms based on the damage caused; this became known as the Fujita scale. The scale ranks tornadoes from F0 to F5, with F0 being the least intense and F5 being the most intense. F5 tornadoes were estimated to have had maximum winds between 261-318 mph (420–512 kilometers per hour).
Following two particularly devastating tornadoes in 1997 and 1999, engineers questioned the reliability of the Fujita scale. Ultimately, a new scale was created that considered 28 different damage indicators; this became known as the Enhanced Fujita scale.[10] The Enhanced Fujita scale is used almost entirely in North America. Most of Europe, however, uses the TORRO tornado intensity scale (TORRO scale or T-Scale), which ranks tornado intensity between T0 and T11; F5/EF5 tornadoes are about the same to T10 to T11 on the T-Scale.
In the United States, between 1950 and January 31, 2007, a total of 50 tornadoes were officially rated F5, and since February 1, 2007, a total of nine tornadoes have been officially rated EF5.[11][12] Since 1950, Canada has had one tornado officially rated an F5.[13] Outside the United States and Canada, seven tornadoes have been officially rated F5/EF5/T10+ or equivalent: two each in France, Germany, and one in Italy, Argentina and Australia.
Several other tornadoes have also been documented as possibly attaining this status, though they are not officially rated as such. The work of tornado expert Thomas P. Grazulis [en] revealed the existence of several dozen likely F5 tornadoes between 1880 and 1995. Grazulis also called into question the ratings of several tornadoes currently rated F5 by official sources. Many tornadoes officially rated F4/EF4 have been questioned and described as actual F5/EF5/T10+ tornadoes, and vice versa; since structures are completely destroyed in both cases, distinguishing between an EF4 tornado and an EF5 tornado is often very difficult.[14] Additionally, because tornado ratings are damage-based, many tornadoes capable of causing F5/EF5/T10+ damage, such as those that move through rural areas, may receive lower ratings because their strongest winds do not strike any suitable damage indicators.[15]
Before 1950, assessments of F5 tornadoes are based primarily on the work of Thomas P. Grazulis. The NCDC has accepted 38 of his F5 classifications of tornadoes occurring between 1880 and 1950. In addition to the accepted ones, Grazulis rated a further 25 during the same period which were not accepted. Grazulis' work has identified 16 additional F5 tornadoes between 1950 and 1995,[18] with four later being accepted by the NCDC.[17] From 1950 to 1970, tornadoes were assessed retrospectively, primarily using information recorded in government databases, as well as newspaper photographs and eyewitness accounts. Beginning in 1971, tornadoes were rated by the NWS using on-site damage surveys.[19]
As of February 1, 2007, tornadoes in the United States are rated using the Enhanced Fujita scale, which replaced the Fujita scale in order to more accurately correlate tornadic intensity with damage indicators and to augment and refine damage descriptors. No earlier tornadoes will be reclassified on the Enhanced Fujita scale, and no new tornadoes in the United States will be rated on the original Fujita scale. France and Canada also adopted the EF-Scale in the next few years. Since the creation of the International Fujita scale in 2018, no tornadoes have been rated IF5.
Worldwide, a total of 67 tornadoes have been officially rated F5/EF5: 59 in the United States, two each in France and Germany, and one each in Argentina, Australia, Canada, and Italy. Of the 59 tornadoes in the United States, 50 are officially rated F5 on the original Fujita scale (with dates of occurrence between May 11, 1953, and May 3, 1999), and nine are officially rated EF5 on the Enhanced Fujita scale (with dates of occurrence between May 4, 2007, and May 20, 2013). In total, 57 of these tornadoes have been rated F5 and ten have been rated EF5.
The process to rate tornadic damage is often difficult. Because of the difficulty, the official ratings of tornadoes are sometimes questioned by others. These may be questioned by other meteorologists, universities and colleges, as well as independent studies published in academic journals.
Previously rated F5/EF5 tornadoes or rated F5/EF5 by others
This is a list of tornadoes. Tornadoes on this list may have been previously rated F5 or EF5 by the official government damage surveyors. Tornadoes on this list may have also been rated F5 or EF5 by some other meteorologist or expert.
This is a list of tornadoes which had possible F5 or EF5 damage. The ratings of possible F5 or EF5 damage could come from the National Weather Service, other branches of the U.S. government, or other tornado experts.
1666 Lincolnshire tornado
1946 Windsor–Tecumseh tornado
1951 Olney tornado
1951 Waupaca tornado
1952 Linwood–Edwardsville tornado
1953 Cygnet tornado
1954 Crowell–Snyder tornado
1955 Walcott tornado
1957 Rush City tornado
1957 Fremont tornado
1957 Pavia tornado
1958 El Dorado tornado
1963 Swett–Patricia tornado
1964 Lawrence tornado
1968 Falmouth–Ripley tornado
1984 Kostroma tornado
1985 Parker Dam State Park–Moshannon State Forest tornado
This is a list of tornadoes which may have or did reached F5 or EF5 strength. These tornadoes did not caused F5 or EF5 damage. However, experts or scientists have determined these tornadoes reached F5 or EF5 intensity or think they did.
↑The Fujita scale was devised under the aegis of scientist T. Theodore Fujita in the early 1970s. Prior to the advent of the scale in 1971, tornadoes in the United States were officially unrated.[1] The Fujita scale has been superseded by the Enhanced Fujita scale in the U.S. since February 1, 2007;[2] Canada used the old scale until April 1, 2013;[3] nations elsewhere, like the United Kingdom, apply other classifications such as the TORRO scale.[4]
↑Historically, the number of tornadoes globally and in the United States was and is likely underrepresented: research by Grazulis on annual tornado activity suggests that, as of 2001, only 53% of yearly U.S. tornadoes were officially recorded. Documentation of tornadoes outside the United States was historically less exhaustive, owing to the lack of monitors in many nations and, in some cases, to internal political controls on public information.[5] Most countries only recorded tornadoes that produced severe damage or loss of life.[6] Significant low biases in U.S. tornado counts likely occurred through the early 1990s, when advanced NEXRAD was first installed and the National Weather Service began comprehensively verifying tornado occurrences.[7]
↑The winds estimated by the Fujita scale are estimated values and have not been verified scientifically.[9]
"The Enhanced Fujita Scale (EF Scale)". Storm Prediction Center. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. August 4, 2011. Retrieved June 25, 2013.
Bluestein, Howard B. (1999). Tornado alley: monster storms of the Great Plains. New York, NY: Oxford University Press. pp. 128–129. ISBN978-0-19-530711-5.
Fujita, T. Theodore (February 1971). Proposed Characterization of Tornadoes and Hurricanes by Area and Intensity. Texas Tech University Southwest Collection/Special Collections Library (Technical report). Satellite and Mesometeorology Research Project Research Paper No. 91. hdl:10605/261875.
—; Abbey, Jr., Robert F. (1983) [1981]. "Chapter 3: Tornadoes: The Tornado Outbreak of 3–4 April 1974". In Kessler, Edwin (ed.). The Thunderstorm in Human Affairs (2nd ed.). Norman, Oklahoma: University of Oklahoma Press. pp. 37–66.
Gordon, John D.; Boyd, Bobby; Rose, Mark A.; et al. (2000). "The Forgotten F5: The Lawrence County Supercell During the Middle Tennessee Tornado Outbreak of 16 April 1998"(PDF). National Weather Digest. 24 (4). National Weather Association: 3–10. Archived from the original(PDF) on 18 December 2012. The authors sent a detailed letter to the SPC recommending the two tornadoes from 1974, and the 1952 tornado mentioned above, be downgraded to F4. The SPC agreed to all three of these changes. The SPC database now reflects the conclusions of Professor Fujita's map of 1974, and Grazulis 1952 tornado report (1993). ... The authors suggested that the three former F5 tornadoes in Tennessee should be reclassified as F4. These changes have been adopted, making the 16 April 1998 Lawrence County tornado the only documented F5 in the history of Tennessee.
Grazulis, Thomas P. (May 1984). Violent Tornado Climatography, 1880–1982. OSTI (Technical report). NUREG. Washington, D.C.: Nuclear Regulatory Commission. OSTI 7099491. CR-3670.
— (July 1993). Significant Tornadoes 1680–1991: A Chronology and Analysis of Events. St. Johnsbury, Vermont: The Tornado Project of Environmental Films. ISBN1-879362-03-1.
Jordan, Charles (1987). Jordan, Teofista A. (ed.). April 3, 1974: A Night to Remember(PDF). Moulton, Alabama: Southern Printing. Archived from the original(PDF) on March 3, 2016. Retrieved March 3, 2016 – via National Weather Service.
Marshall, Timothy P.; Jungbluth, Karl A.; Baca, Abigail (August 2008). The Parkersburg, IA Tornado: 25 May 2008(PDF). 24th Conference on Severe Local Storms. Savannah, GA. Retrieved 2023-07-23.
—; McCarthy, Daniel; LaDue, James (August 2008). Damage survey of the Greensburg, KS tornado(PDF). 24th Conference on Severe Local Storms. Savannah, GA. Retrieved 2023-07-27.
Ortega, Kiel L.; Bluestein, H.; Burgess, D. W.; Garfield, G. S.; LaDue, J. G.; Manross, K. L.; Smith, B. R.; Smith, R.; Smith, T. M.; Snyder, J. C.; Stumpf, G. J. (25 January 2012). Overview of the 24 May 2011 tornado outbreak. 92nd American Meteorological Society Annual Meeting (January 22-26, 2012).