How Likely Is an EF6 Tornado?

I'm willing to bet by 2030 EF6 will be added to the scale

[OVERPOWEREDSTORMS]

According to the good people of the comments the chances of this happening is below 0.002%

[beaedens]

The Smithfield Estates tornado on April 4, 1977, just to the northwest of Birmingham, AL, was officially rated an F5. However, Dr. Fujita was actually in a plane tracking behind the storm and after surveying the damage initially wanted to rate it an F6.

[nightstrike]

As someone from the heart of Tornado alley, I don't even want to imagine an F-6

[bryanvaldez]

a lot of people tend to associate tornado rating scales with hurricane scales, hurricanes are rated on intensity while tornadoes are rated on the amount of damage it has caused.

[SupaDaBloopa]

I’ve thought about this before. While we don’t have an “EF6” on the scale, tornadoes have far surpassed that which classified them as “EF5”. A great example is the fastest tornado recorded to date: The 2013 El Reno, Oklahoma tornado, which clocked in at a max reported wind speed of roughly 302mph (486km/h).

For reference, a tornado is classified an EF5 when it has an estimated 3 second gust of over 200mph. The El Reno tornado is 100 mph *faster* than the minimum requirement for an EF5. We can assume that, if EF6 were added to the scale, the El Reno tornado would have been categorized as such.

[Shinuchiha_]

The Joplin tornado damage was unlike anything I’ve ever seen.. I visited after on a mission trip for my church and I was dumbfounded by what I saw.. literally looked like the pictures of Tuscaloosa the week or two prior that were all over international news.. people were literally in shell shock, fires from gas pipelines were raging even 8 days after the storm, and entire neighborhoods were complete debris piles with concrete slabs littering torn up city streets.. it was one of the most gruesome seems I’ve ever seen on American soil and I lived through 9/11 my man.. I met some grateful and humble freaking souls when I was there though who welcomed all the help they could get.. one of the best experiences of my entire life 😊❤❤ Joplin is doing 10x better today though and doesn’t even look like it did 10 years ago

[CJCochran]

FWIW, Dr Ted Fujita used the ‘74 Xenia, Ohio F-5 as a proving ground for his newly-adopted F-scale … he and one of his graduate assistants at the time - Dr Greg Forbes, Weather Channel - surveyed the storm damage in/around Xenia, interviewed residents, and made assessments of how strong the tornado was. I think they also made tweaks and adjustments to the F-scale based on what they observed.

[thatoneweatherguy]

EF6 Will most likely not be added to the Enhanced Fujita scale.
1. Reaching 350 miles per hour in a tornado is insanely unlikely, and it is unrealistic to make a new rating for it.
2. There hasn't been an EF5 in 11 years, so it's unlikely for an EF6 to be added
3. Cities and skyscrapers being leveled has never happened (and most likely never will). Cities have been hit, but never completely leveled.

[CJCochran]

Regarding El Reno, I read and heard that it was rated at only an EF-3 because of the main funnel’s intensity - however, the dozens of small internal vortices contained inside the main funnel reportedly proved intense enough to warrant EF-5 damage … the overall rating of EF-3 for this tornado apparently caused some disagreement, either official or unofficial, over how the storm was designated … 🤷🏻

[SkywarnMN]

Have to fact check you here:
Jarrell had wind speeds 268 MPH, and the Bridge Creek F5 had wind speeds 318 MPH

For people who don’t know if they’ve ever heard of the dead man walking tornado then Giro, Texas the Gerald Texas tornado was actually the tornado that was giving that nickname and you can look up deadman walking tornado, and you can get one of the most famous images of all time it literally looks like it has two legs like the voices look like legs walking

[RJB]

2013 El Reno always comes to mind with possibility of EF6

[jeromyyandell]

Even on the enhanced fujita scale, there is no classification for one, since all tornadoes with a wind speed of 200mph+ automatically get an EF5 rating. There just isn't a wind designation for any speed of that. However, like you said, if there was ever a tornado that should have gotten that rating of F6, it should have been the Bridge Creek/Moore Tornado of 1999.

[sukhastings]

Dr Fujita and Dr Pearson wanted to include an F6 rating when the initial Fujita/ Pearson rating system was created. " incomprehensible " was the type of damage described to warrant an F6. Fujita wanted to use that rating for 4/3/74 Xenia tornado, but dropped it after concluding F6 tornadoes would be extremely rare

[punkrockstormchaser]

There have been two f6s though they were down graded to f5
Lubbock Texas 1970
And Xenia Ohio 1974

[amasing]

Bro is the CEO of making sure he gets the lowest pixel pics he can find, respect

[smedleybutler]

The Tri-State tornado 🌪️ can you imagine the damage if it wasn't moving so quickly.

[stevenguy]

The El Reno Tornado 🌪️ was pretty much an EF6 but the scale stops at 5 reason being a 6 it was nearly 2 and half miles wide and had several good size EF3 to 4 surrounding it and that’s what killed the 3 storm chasers not the beast itself

[RP-lefp]

I suppose there are many great reasons to live in such areas as Tornado alley and it maybe fun and challenging for some. Sounds very exciting, but I just don't see myself wanting a closer look.

[shevaisrael]

The minute we think an EF 6 tornado is highly unlikely. We speak this shit into being….. the devastation would be of epic proportions! God help us 🙏🏽