Fujita-Pearson Tornado Intensity Scale
Scale for rating tornado intensity
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The Fujita-Pearson scale for rating tornado intensity is based on the damage tornadoes inflict on human-built structures and vegetation.
| Fujita-Pearson Scale | Tornado Strength | Tornado Name | Maximum Wind Speed (miles per hour) |
Path Length (miles) |
Average Path Length (yard) |
Damage | |
| F0 | Weak | Gale | < 73 | < 1 | < 18 | Light | some damage to chimneys break branches off trees push over shallow-rooted trees damage sign boards |
| F1 | Weak | Moderate | 73 - 112 | 1 - 3.1 | 18 - 55 | Moderate | lower limit is the beginning of hurricane wind speed peel surface off roofs mobile homes pushed off foundations or overturned moving autos pushed off the roads |
| F2 | Strong | Significant | 113 - 157 | 3.2 - 9.9 | 56 - 175 | Considerable | roofs torn off frame houses mobile homes demolished and pushed over large trees snapped or uprooted light-object missiles generated |
| F3 | Strong | Severe | 158 - 206 | 10 - 31 | 176 - 556 | Severe | roofs and some walls torn off well constructed houses trains overturned most trees in forest uprooted heavy cars lifted off the ground and thrown |
| F4 | Violent | Devastating | 207 - 260 | 32 - 99 | 557 - 1759 | Devastating | well-constructed houses leveled structures with weak foundations blown off some distance cars thrown and large missiles generated |
| F5 | Violent | Incredible | 261 - 318 | 100 - 315 | 1760 - 5456 | Incredible | strong frame houses lifted off foundations and carried
considerable distance to disintegrate automobile sized missiles fly through the air in excess of 100 meters(109 yards) trees debarked incredible phenomena will occur |
| > F6 | not expected to occur on the surface of Earth | ||||||
- 1 mph = 0.44703 m/s = 1.609 km/h
- 1 mile = 1.6093 km
- 1 yd (yard) = 0.9144 m
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