Is this possible

[STurner]

I know size and forward movement of tornadoes may cause certain types of damage to different structures. I just wonder if it would be possible if a small 50-100yd wide tornado to move at 70-80mph and still create EF5 damage to structures. I figured that at this size and this movement a structure may only be affected for about two to three seconds.

 

[rdale]

The EF scale isn't based on the tornado's size or speed of movement, but on the damage it creates.

 

[STurner]

The EF scale isn't based on the tornado's size or speed of movement, but on the damage it creates.

I know it is based on damage. I was just wondering if a small tornado could move really fast and still create EF5 damage.

 

[Chris Allington]

I know it is based on damage. I was just wondering if a small tornado could move really fast and still create EF5 damage.

If it had incredible windspeeds yes...

 

[Chris Nuttall]

In this case, it would probably be more likely for a SLOWER moving tornado to cause more damage to any given structure. Damage to the structure would probably be increased due to the increased time of exposure to winds and flying debris. However, these things are usually taken into account by survey teams. Regardless, you're not going to get an EF2 doing this resulting in EF5 damage.

 

[Shane Adams]

This is a good topic. Years ago the Jarrell, TX F5 tornado's rating was scrutinized by some who felt the peak winds were only the in F3 range, and the tornado did its damage based on the fact it moved very slowly, and just sort of "ground down" the structures it hit. I never agreed with this philosophy because it's based on windspeed estimations and not damage sustained, which is exactly the opposite of what the F-scale was designed around.

The fact that damage occurs to a certain degree (per F-scale) is the only factor that should be accounted for when rating a tornado (based on the updated EF DIs), whether it was pure wind damage from an F5 or a grinding down of structures from slower winds that stayed put for a long duration. It doesn't matter what the windspeed estimation was, because we have no way of truly knowing and all the DOW measurements have been generally ruled out due to margin of error either way of around 25mph or so. So IMO it makes no sense to quabble over how strong a tornado may or may not have been when we stress damage over windspeed, and have no way to measure ground windspeed.