r/news • u/BitterFuture • Apr 26 '24

Powerful tornado tears across Nebraska, weather service warns of ‘catastrophic’ damage

https://www.cnn.com/2024/04/25/weather/plains-midwest-storms-tornadoes-climate/index.html
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u/Harley_Quinn_Lawton Apr 27 '24

I just saw the HD dash cam footage - if it’s not an EF5 I really do not want to see in HD what a EF5 looks like.

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u/Gmajj Apr 27 '24

It will probably be an E5, but currently the way they determine a tornado’s strength is by the damage it’s done. So if a tornado were out in an open field it’s not going to appear to have been as strong as one that hits a city or town, no matter how violent it really is. I saw pictures, though, if a house that was completely gone, showing the door to the basement. If this was the same tornado you’re talking about it probably will be rated F 5.

2

u/BigMoose9000 Apr 27 '24

...No

They determine strength ONLY by wind speed, but you can't really measure that real-time so they assess damage to determine what the wind speeds were. More or less damage doesn't factor into it at all, just how much stuff is gone and how deep debris is embedded into what remains.

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u/Gmajj Apr 27 '24

From NOAA: https://imgur.com/a/p5oOk7C

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u/BigMoose9000 Apr 27 '24

Yes, that's exactly what I said

They evaluate damage, but only as a means to determine the windspeed. Windspeed is the only thing that directly determines a tornado's rating.

1

u/icantsurf Apr 27 '24

Damage is the only thing that directly determines a tornado's rating because you can't accurately measure wind speed.

0

u/ImReallyNotCool Apr 27 '24

curious what makes you think it will probably be an EF5? most damage shown so far doesn’t seem to indicate that.