Fujita Scale

[Richblue2]

I bought a book on weather (published by the BBC, I believe the title is simply, Weather). It showed the Fujita scale for tornados.

This particular list showed F1-F6. I was under the impression that F5 was as high as things went (since that was the highest that's been witnessed, that I'm aware of). The criteria for F6 was "Inconceivable." It said that there would be no debris left where buildings once stood.

Is there an officially recognized F6 rating for tornados?

[Coriolis]

Richard -

Ted Fujita - who deveoped that scale (F0 - F5) but there is a scale for the F6 but there is caveat on the F6. You are correct on the "inconceivable tornado" - BUT none has ever been recorded and the wind speeds are very unlikely. Also there would be nothing left to "study" as everything would have been destroyed. I believe that is why they only use the F5 as the recognized stardard (highest intensity). Now there was a tornado in Moore, Oklahoma (1999) was "detected" at the 318 MPH - but the winds were above the ground so it still was classsified as a F5. I will let the experts tell you just to be sure you are getting the correct information.

Jim