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WEATHER FACTS

Tornadoes

  • Fastest tornado winds: 286 miles per hour (Wichita Falls, Texas; April 2, 1958) 2

  • Worst tornado outbreaks: Some  have not been in the Midwestern "tornado alley." On March 28, 1984, 22 tornadoes ripped across the Carolinas, killing 57, injuring 1,248 and causing $200 million in damages. On May 31, 1985, 41 tornadoes in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Ontario killed 75, injured 1,025 and left almost $500 million in damages. 4

  • Tornado frequency in U.S. :  3 out of 4 of all world tornadoes hit the U.S. 4

  • Long distance traveler:  293 miles on the ground, 1917,  traveled from Missouri to Indiana.  4

  • A tornado destroyed a motel near Broken Bow, OK. The motel's sign was found later in Arkansas. 4

  • Only 2% of U.S. tornadoes reach "violent" intensity, yet those few result in 70% of all tornado deaths.  Winds in these tornadoes exceed 200 mph and can stay on the ground for an hour or more. 4

  • The Fujita Scale of Tornado Intensity   (also Fujita-Pearson Scale; based on storm damage)

    F-Scale Number

    Intensity Phrase

    Wind Speed(mph)


    Type of Damage Done
     

    W
    E
    A
    K

    		 F0 Gale tornado 40-72 Some damage to chimneys; breaks branches off trees; pushes over shallow-rooted trees; damages sign boards.
    F1 Moderate tornado 73-112 The lower limit is the beginning of hurricane wind speed; peels surface off roofs; mobile homes pushed off foundations or overturned; moving autos pushed off the roads; attached garages may be destroyed.
    S
    T
    R
    O
    N
    G    		 F2 Significant tornado 113-157 Considerable damage. Roofs torn off frame houses; mobile homes demolished; boxcars pushed over; large trees snapped or uprooted; light object missiles generated.
    F3 Severe tornado 158-206 Roof and some walls torn off well constructed houses; trains overturned; most trees in forest uprooted
    V
    I
    O
    L
    E
    N
    T    		 F4 Devastating tornado 207-260 Well-constructed houses leveled; structures with weak foundations blown off some distance; cars thrown and large missiles generated.
    F5 Incredible tornado 261-318 Strong frame houses lifted off foundations and carried considerable distances to disintegrate; automobile sized missiles fly through the air in excess of 100 meters; trees debarked; steel re-enforced concrete structures badly damaged.
    F6 Inconceivable tornado 319-379 These winds are very unlikely. The small area of damage they might produce would probably not be recognizable along with the mess produced by F4 and F5 wind that would surround the F6 winds. Missiles, such as cars and refrigerators would do serious secondary damage that could not be directly identified as F6 damage. If this level is ever achieved, evidence for it might only be found in some manner of ground swirl pattern, for it may never be identifiable through engineering studies

    F-0 and F-1 tornadoes are considered "weak," F-2 and F-3 are "strong" and F-4 and F-5 are "violent." The Fujita-Pearson Scale adds categories to include path length and path width. The scale had been originally calculated through F-12, which is Mach 1 - the speed of sound (750 mph) - but tornado wind speeds are not expected to reach these speeds.

    Thunderstorms

    • Lightning from the blue: Lightning bolts can jump 10 or more miles from their parent cloud into regions with blue skies. 4

    • Temperature of lightning:  estimated   50,000°F ( hotter than the surface of the sun )  4

    • Odds of being struck by lightning: approx. 1 in 800,000.  4

    • Lightning strikes:  9 out of 10 lightning bolts strike the continents rather than oceans.  4

    • For each lightning bolt that hits the ground, about 200,000 pounds of rain are also formed. 4

    • Number of thunderstorms:  Nearly 2,000 thunderstorm cells are estimated over the planet at any given time. The U.S. has over 100,000 thunderstorms annually, the global average being 16 million! 4

    • Heat bursts are an odd atmospheric event that occurs in thunderstorms. Although most thunderstorms produce cooling gusts, an occasional parcel of air is pushed down from 20,000 feet to the surface, warming by compression all the way down. In Glasgow, MT, on September 9, 1994, the temperature at 5:02 AM was 67°F. A heat burst from a nearby storm shot the temp up to 93°F by 5:17 AM, tying the date's record high. By 5:40 AM, it was back to 68°F.