High Impact Tornado Outbreaks

[Nick Smith]

Dr. Greg Forbes has come up with a way of rating the impact of tornado outbreaks using eleven attributes. He also indicates the ENSO and MJO phase for these outbreaks. These outbreaks were also placed into seven synoptic patterns (with maps) at the end of the paper.

The paper can be found in PDF format at:
http://ams.confex.com/ams/pdfpapers/99383.pdf

 

[Jeff Snyder]

An alternative "scale" is the O index... See

Edwards, R., R.L. Thompson, K.C. Crosbie, J.A. Hart, and C. A. Doswell III, 2004: Proposals for Modernizing the Definitions of Tornado and Severe Thunderstorm Outbreaks. Preprints, 22nd Conf. Severe Local Storms, Hyannis MA. [187K PDF] --> http://www.spc.noaa.gov/publications/edwar...ds/defpaper.pdf