Glen Romine
EF5
The definition of "large" (i.e. the size that constitutes the "large" designation) seems to vary from person to person (chaser to chaser, spotter to law enforcement official, etc).... I've seen some so-called "large" tornadoes that were certainly not what I would call "large". I think >1/4 mile wide when I think of a "large" tornado, but that's just me.
So, this is a thread hijack, admittedly, but this aspect does seem to come up too often. When individuals are reporting a large tornado - this generally does lead to enhanced wording in warnings, etc... and should not be abused to the extent possible. One problem that I think comes up too often is that large tornadoes seem to be reported on occasion when the viewer cannot actually see the ground contact of the circulation. When a large, low to the ground rotating wall cloud develops, from a distance this may appear to be a large tornado. However, sometimes this is not the case, where only a small or no tornado actually exists at the time. So, size estimates should best be reserved for when you can clearly see the ground contact of the tornado. Then, you have to try and best estimate how big it is using whatever measures are available, like # of telephone poles, trees, etc...