This seems to be a new video. It was just posted June 1, and everyone should watch it:
There are articles that claimed the 250 mph estimate came from the NWS, but I've never seen anything official in that regard. Partha Sarkar, an engineering professor from Iowa State, calculated that the parking stops would've required winds above 205 mph to be lifted up and lofted as they were, but that's the only "official" number I've seen other than the NWS' generic "greater than 200 mph" survey estimate.P.S. Did it actually reach 250 mph winds, or was that just media sensationalism? Most sources seem to be saying that peak winds were around 210 mph.
It seems very possible. Honestly if every tornado that exceeded 200 mph was rated EF5, we'd probably see several every year. 2011 might have seen 10 or even 15, while even 2013 might have seen three or four (Moore, Bennington, El Reno, and possibly New Minden).That said, I'm of the opinion that the winds in the most violent of tornadoes often far exceed 200 mph.
I thought they started issuing PDS tornado warnings starting with April 14th, 2012. Then again, that was when it was still experimental.As I recall 2012 is when the TE became a formal NWS product.
This. It is a travesty to me that Joplin's EF5 rating is marked "disputed" on the Wikipedia list of F5 and EF5 tornadoes based on the ASCE study. Barring a worst-case scenario like tracking along a gridlocked freeway at rush hour or hitting a packed sporting event or concert venue, a tornado simply does not kill >150 people in this day and age without being exceptionally violent.There have been volumes written about the Joplin tornado in regards to intensity and freak damage reports. I will say of all the storm damage I have encountered in over 35 years of journalism / storm photography, Joplin was by far the most extreme. This includes damage from all three Moore, OK tornadoes I surveyed. I believe the most impressive damage from Joplin was the hospital being rotated 4 inches off the foundation. I personally believe individual vortices reached well over 300 mph.
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Number of fatalities has nothing to do with tornado damage rating. The EF-scale uses estimated wind speeds...period. It has been well discussed that all but the most well-constructed and secured single-family homes fail at speeds well below the EF5 threshold. So you generally cannot use a single-family home (the most common and representative damage indicator from the old Fujita scale) to justify an EF5 rating on a tornado. Also, the wind speed ranges for many DoDs in many DIs are themselves only estimates. It can be difficult to state unequivocally exactly how fast of wind it takes to do a certain degree of damage to a given structure. Some structures may twist/bend/fail at surprisingly low (or high) speeds. We just don't know.This. It is a travesty to me that Joplin's EF5 rating is marked "disputed" on the Wikipedia list of F5 and EF5 tornadoes based on the ASCE study. Barring a worst-case scenario like tracking along a gridlocked freeway at rush hour or hitting a packed sporting event or concert venue, a tornado simply does not kill >150 people in this day and age without being exceptionally violent.
There have been volumes written about the Joplin tornado in regards to intensity and freak damage reports. I will say of all the storm damage I have encountered in over 35 years of journalism / storm photography, Joplin was by far the most extreme. This includes damage from all three Moore, OK tornadoes I surveyed. I believe the most impressive damage from Joplin was the hospital being rotated 4 inches off the foundation. I personally believe individual vortices reached well over 300 mph.
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