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Tornado question
Topic Started: Apr 14 2008, 05:58 PM (236 Views)
tincup1215
SWC Newbie Member
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Ok let me set up the scenario:

Has it been documented or is it even possible for a tornado to have a huge base (1.5 mile+), and have wind speeds of an F1 (85-110 mph)? I've always been under the assumption that the bigger it is, the faster the wind speeds are and the more damage it will do.
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djanderson89
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Board Admin
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Good question!

As far as I know the actual size of a tornado has no effect on the wind speeds or intensity of it. A large wedge tornado can be weak or extremely powerful. Same with rope tornadoes, size really does not show the intensity. I used to believe that this was the case, especially after watching Twister (it seemed that each tornado they encountered became stronger and bigger as well).

If anyone would like to elaborate more feel free to! :)
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Swimhaas
Forum Mod
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The Fujita Scale does not judge base on size or shape, but rather the intensity of winds.

I would guess that it would not be possible for such a large tornado to contain such weak winds without much stronger winds being imbedded. To produce such a large tornado you would need an incredibly large and a rather intense updraft, based on that alone I would find it hard to imagine a tornado with a base larger than a few hundred meters to produce only EF-1 or less damages. :ph43r:

I attached a picture of the largest f-1 tornado I could find. This was taken in Iowa

BTW...Tincup, it is now the EF scale not the F scale. It has been updated for more accurate windspeed analysis. If you want more information I have attached a link for you

http://www.spc.noaa.gov/efscale/
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StormChaser08
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SWC Newbie Member
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Here is a great write up on the article http://www.nssl.noaa.gov/~brooks/pflw.html


There is a statistical trend (as documented by NSSL's Harold Brooks) toward wide tornadoes having higher F-scale damage. This can be out of more strength or out of greater opportunity for targets to damage -- or some blend of both. However, the size or shape of any particular tornado does not say anything conclusive about its strength. Some small "rope" tornadoes can still do violent damage of F4 or F5; and some very large tornadoes over a quarter-mile wide have produced only weak damage of F0 to F1.

As Swimhaas said, they use the new EF (enhanced fujita) scale, which was created to base much more heavily on the damage factor, so now, a tornado that used to only be a F1 could be a F3 even with the same winds.. It is just a lot more damage based...
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EmericaGeoff
SWC Member
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You got to remember that the EF scale is based off of things it destroys. Hence you can have a 2.2 mile wide tornado that doesnt destroy anything so it wont get a higher rating. but ya it may be possible.
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fox2fan4weather
SWC Member
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Good topic!

As Meteorology is rather a young science, there is still so much research to be done. Remember, major research into tornados has been ongoing, but the doppler radar was a HUGE step toward virtually seeing the dynamics of a tornado. It wasn't until 1988 (hence the name D88 for the new doppler) that we widely started to use this technology.

Now, through new research done it is believed that larger tornados may not just contain one vortex. In fact, it is believed that larger tornados may contain several smaller vortices that rotate around the main inward flow.....almost like eddies around a huge suction.

You may have heard the example of the skater on the ice. When he/she tucks their arms in they spin faster. When they let them out, they go slower. With the new research, it shows that there are several (sometimes 3 or 4) vortices spinning around this main, larger vortex, making for a very deadly tornado.

Interesting question on developing research!
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