MOST POWERFUL TORNADOES Ever Recorded

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COPYRIGHT PECOS HANK LLC 2020
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

EF5s destroy well built homes and sweep their concrete foundations clean of debris. Cars are mangled and tossed hundreds, possibly thousands of meters away. But what exactly does a tornado have to do to earn the most powerful EF5 rating?  or an F5 rating? What’s the difference?  

In over 20 years of chasing tornadoes I’ve documented at least 8 EF4 tornadoes, but only one EF5. As of the date of this video the last EF5 tornado occurred in Moore Oklahoma on May 20th, 2013.  Over 9 years ago.  So where have all the EF5’s gone?   

BRIEF HISTORY of the FUJITA SCALE (F-scale)
If a strong tornado strikes an instrument that measures wind speeds, The anemometer will likely be blown to smithereens long before it was able to measure and record how fast the strongest winds were.  But, If we found the crumbled anemometer a mile away,  scientists and engineers can make estimates of what wind velocities might do such a thing. 

In 1971 Dr. Ted Fujita developed a method to rate the intensity of tornadoes based on surveys of ground damage.  The Fujita Scale has 6 intensity categories from the lightest damage F0 to the incredible F5. With wind estimates from 261-318 mph (419 - 512 km/h), EF5s are powerful enough to throw cars hundreds, possibly thousands of meters and completely sweep away brick homes.

[But the Fujita scale was very limiting with only general descriptions and no account for construction quality. Also, the wind speed estimates
was later deemed by meteorologists and engineers as being too high.  For example, a 261 mph wind speed is NOT required to completely destroy a well constructed house and blow away the debris.  This damage occurs at significantly lower wind speeds than previously thought.

THE EF SCALE
Revision or enhancement of the Fujita Scale was needed. In 2007 operational use of the ENHANCED Fujita scale began in the United states.  
The EF scale has a more accurate estimation of damaging wind speeds.
and has 28 damage indicators all with respective Degrees of damage. The old scale lists an F5 tornado with winds of 261–318 mph (420–512 km/h), 
The new scale lists an EF5 with winds above 200 mph (322 km/h),
This is found to be sufficient to cause the damage previously ascribed to the F5 range of wind speeds. 

NOAA DAMAGE ASSESMENT TOOLKIT
The NOAA damage assessment toolkit has a tremendous amount of information with detailed photos and assessments of damage citing why a tornado received the rating it did. It’s fascinating to explore, and available to the public.  Here's that link...

TOP 3 MOST POWERFUL TORNADOES EVER MEASURED
#1: The May 3, 1999 Bridge Creek-Moore Oklahoma F5...
This tornado destroyed thousands of homes and businesses, killing 36. and is cited as the highest winds ever measured on earth with mobile Doppler radar velocity measurements of roughly 302 mph.   

#2: May 31, 2013 El Reno EF3...
In addition to being the widest tornado ever recorded El Reno 2013 is also a contender for the highest winds measured on Earth with similar radar-measured velocities of 302 mph, but these were in orbiting subvortices moving extremely rapidly, whereas the May 3, 1999 Doppler readings were slicing the main vortex where peak velocities weren’t as transient
As in the 2013 El Reno tornado.

#3: The May 24, 2011 El Reno EF5 with most likely max wind speeds at 295 mph. I actually recorded The moments when University of Oklahoma's RaXpol radar was getting that data. 

EF5s and F5s make up only .1% of rated tornadoes in the US. Between 1950 and 2007, 50 tornadoes were officially rated F5 and since February 2007, only nine tornadoes have been officially rated EF5.

F5 TORNADOES OUTSIDE THE USA:

CANADA has had one F5...
- June 22, 2007, F5 Elie Manitoba (EC)

FRANCE has had 2 F5s...
- Aug 19, 1845 Montville
- June 24, 1967. Palluel

GERMANY has had two F5s..
- June 29, 1764 Woldegk
- Apr 23, 1800 Hainichen

ITALY has had at least one F5...
- Jul 24, 1930 Treviso, Udine

And RUSSIA had one F5.
- Jun 9, 1984 Ivano, Lunevo

SPECIAL THANKS:
To Daniel Shaw for Licensing me the May 20, 2013 Moore Oklahoma EF5 damage video and to Dr. Tracie Seimon, Dr. Anton Seimon and Skip Talbot for helping me research and edit this script.

RESEARCH:
The Multiple-Vortex Structure of the El Reno, Oklahoma, Tornado on 31 May 2013
BLUESTEIN, THIEM, SNYDER, HOUSER

Some Considerations for the Use of High-Resolution Mobile Radar Data in Tornado Intensity Determination AUG 2014 SNYDER & BLUESTEIN

THE ROLE OF MULTIPLE-VORTEX TORNADO STRUCTURE IN CAUSING STORM RESEARCHER FATALITIES by WURMAN, KOSIBA, ROBINSON, MARSHALL

[OrNaurItsKat]

Hi Hank, a few years ago my house took a pretty direct hit from an F3. My son was just 6 then and kind of traumatized by it, but he started watching your videos afterwards and now I think he's going to be interested in atmospheric science for life and no more tears during storms.

[joogsquad]

Congrats on 1 mill Hank! Thanks for the inspiration!

[LockheedMartinFRaptor]

Fun fact:
In the same year that the Enhanced Fujita scale was released, Greensburg, Kansas, suffered from a massive tornado, wiping roughly 90% of the town off the map. That tornado received the very first EF-5 rating that year.

The tornado was measured at 1.7 miles in diameter, wider than the town of Greensburg, with 205 mph winds, measured by the Doppler radar.

[pyroflamex]

The video: tornado
Captions: burrito

Also, I liked the way you explain it! I could understand very easily

[Gussa]

1 million subscribers!!!! Congrats hank!! Been watching for over 5 years now and your content never fails to amaze me. I’m currently finishing up highschool and your videos have been a key factor in my life to help me decide what I want to do with my weather passion. Thanks for the memories! Here’s to another million.

[ClickyCrisp]

Congrats on 1 million! That was such a lovely surprise at the end to hear ❤️

[faerieSAALE]

Considering what you put yourself through while tornado and storm chasing i.e. the crappy food, the lousy motel rooms, the damage to your cars, and nearly dying a few times - all the while keeping a calm demeanor, your guitar playing, jokes, animal saviors, and recorded images of weather-driven monsters on the loose, I'd say you more than earned and deserve ONE MILLION SUBSCRIBERS!

[cintrasookraj]

I'm in the winter of my life& binge watching your videos help me survive another hour. Thank you for your wittiness, your love for animals, your skill as a photographer& dedication as a chaser. I wish I could have the opportunity to do so for the photography, but here in Trinidad we have no tornados. I look forward to seeing more of your content.

[Loganm]

I love everything you’re about Hank. Helping wildlife, appreciating tornados without the yelling and needing to get dangerously close. Helping tornado victims, not because you’re a chaser and feel like you need to, but because you genuinely want to help. Keep doing what your’re doing!

[BobbyDukeArts]

Huge congrats on 1 million subs! Totally warranted.

[traemaxwell]

I remember living in Houston when the Jarell Tornado completely leveled an entire subdivision. It was so powerful it pulled asphalt off the roadbed and took 3 feet of topsoil off the ground. It was also weird because instead of moving SW to NE, it moved NE to SW. Incredible!

[GradyOrtizGolf]

The picture shown at 11:25 shows a slabbed home with an anchor bolt. I know you and others wonder why that spot was not rated higher. In the inspector’s notes, it says the house was under construction and 80% done. I think that is why it did not receive a higher rating. I love your content and have watched you for more than five years and your content never disappoints. Until next time, happy trails!

[keatonterry]

9 years later and it still blows my mind how similar the Moore EF5 on May 20, 2013 was to Oklahoma City on May 3, 1999.

[TheRealGuywithoutaMustache]

I’ve always had a fascination towards tornadoes and how they form and also developed a little bit of a fear for them the more stories I hear about them. Congratulations on the 1 million milestone man, you deserve it and there will be even more to come in the future.

[kabom]

Congrats Hank! It is not just because of how well you tell and explain to us about tornadoes but your kind nature toward all the little creatures and how your voice is so nice to listen to without any screaming and the volume is always perfect in your videos and so detailed. Thank you for all you do! I have been watching your videos for quite a few years now.

[nolongerkai]

I was born May 3rd, 1999. My mother describes holding infant me while watching the news coverage that evening. Proud to be linked to possibly the fastest winds recorded on earth. Thanks Oklahoma.

[Token_Nerd]

The one thing that I personally think is to the detriment of the EF scale specifically, is that relying solely on structural engineering damage indicators (and I say this as a structural engineer) means that we're not truly quantifying whether tornadoes are getting stronger or not, since high ratings are largely contingent on tornadoes hitting heavily populated areas.

Perhaps it's time we move towards a 2-scale system for rating tornadoes — the Fujita scale family which measures tornadoes based on damage indicators and structural analysis, and a new scale which solely measures wind speed or energy exerted (Basically the integral of wind speed (force) over the entire length of the tornado), similar to how earthquakes are measured (there are 2 scales there).

[IanNarcisi]

EF-5 Burrito's are both intense to watch and to eat! Your footage is outstanding!!

[templar]

Anyone who witnessed the Jarrel Tx tornado damage would have a complete understanding how bad it can get.

[wewinusa]

It’s really nice that people take the time to record these events, very cool