Can a tornado be rated high without DI's

[STurner]

As part of the EF-scale they use 28 damage indicators to determine a tornadoes rating. But is it still possible for a tornado to receive a high rating even though there were no DI's involved. An example would be like if a tornado turned two large vehicles were into unrecognizable fragments and some of the contents were found several miles downwind. In addition there was also very massive scouring of the ground. I am no expert but if these two non DI's occured, it would have to be more than an EF0 or EF1.

 

[Jeff Duda]

You must remember that the EF scale is a damage scale, not an intensity scale for tornadoes. Thus, even if a tornado is producing 175 mph winds at the surface, if it does not do any damage to any structures that are damage indicators on the EF scale, then it won't be rated high. I'm not sure what the protocol is for rating a tornado that does no damage besides scouring land, but I'm guessing such a tornado would get an EF0 rating.

 

[Terry Tyler]

Im not in charge of damage surveys, but i would assume that if a tornado had severely scoured the earth, stripped pavement on a road, or threw vehicles as you described then it would achieve some kind of rating. Vehicles are not on there because of different shapes, sizes, weights, and a number of other variables that make it difficult to accurately determine the storms intensity.

With that said, if it has left behind any kind of DI, whether it was on or off the official scale. They would probably have enough information to go from there. Since they are always watching the radar and getting reports from spotters in the field, they would know if the theoretical storm in the area was capable of such weather. The next day when they drove out to look at it, they would likely use a number of different sources to confirm if a tornado did infact form, and then look at any kind of damage to possibly rate it.

Then again, i could be wrong altogether. It just might not get a rating. I just couldent see that it wouldent be wrote down because the damage it caused wasnt on the 28-DI scale.