The Briefing Room

General Category => Science, Technology and Knowledge => Topic started by: rangerrebew on June 12, 2021, 05:13:42 pm

Title: It’s been a record-long time since the last EF5 tornado. What does that mean?
Post by: rangerrebew on June 12, 2021, 05:13:42 pm

  It’s been a record-long time since the last EF5 tornado. What does that mean?
The most intense tornadoes on the planet have been giving the U.S. a break.

As broken records go, this is a happy one. The United States has now gone an unprecedentedly long time between tornadoes rated EF5, the highest ranking on the Enhanced Fujita Scale, the gold-standard technique for assessing a tornado’s strength based on the damage it wreaks. Unfortunately, as with the stock market, recent performance does not guarantee future behavior.

As of Tuesday, May 25, 2021, it had been eight years and five days since the nation last saw a tornado rated EF5 by the National Weather Service. This broke a record-long quiet spell in a National Weather Service database going back to 1950, taking into account F5 tornadoes on the original Fujita-Pearson Scale as well as EF5s on the Enhanced Fujita Scale that debuted in 2007. (Ratings from the F and EF scales denote comparable damage, but estimated winds are lower on the EF scale.)

The previous record-long gap lasted from May 3, 1999, when a catastrophic F5 tornado slammed Moore, Oklahoma, and Oklahoma City, until May 4, 2007, the date an EF5 destroyed much of Greensburg, Kansas.

The nation’s most recent EF5 ripped across hapless Moore, Oklahoma, on May 20, 2013.

https://yaleclimateconnections.org/2021/05/its-been-a-record-long-time-since-the-last-ef5-tornado-what-does-that-mean/

Title: Re: It’s been a record-long time since the last EF5 tornado. What does that mean?
Post by: Fishrrman on June 12, 2021, 10:01:33 pm

"It’s been a record-long time since the last EF5 tornado. What does that mean?"

It means...
... that "global warming"...
... is WORKING!

Title: Re: It’s been a record-long time since the last EF5 tornado. What does that mean?
Post by: Smokin Joe on June 13, 2021, 12:57:36 am

It means this one, originally rated as an F5 was downgraded to F4:


LaPlata, MD, 2002
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/capital-weather-gang/wp/2017/04/28/remembering-the-la-plata-tornado-15-years-later/ (https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/capital-weather-gang/wp/2017/04/28/remembering-the-la-plata-tornado-15-years-later/)

Title: Re: It’s been a record-long time since the last EF5 tornado. What does that mean?
Post by: Cyber Liberty on June 13, 2021, 02:47:30 am

It means Gaia is saving up for a fast Eff Six....

(Yes, I know.)

Title: Re: It’s been a record-long time since the last EF5 tornado. What does that mean?
Post by: Joe Wooten on June 13, 2021, 03:02:22 am

Lower temperature differentials, lower energy storms.

Title: Re: It’s been a record-long time since the last EF5 tornado. What does that mean?
Post by: Sled Dog on June 13, 2021, 07:13:27 am

It means...

...this is tricky...

...weather is a chaotic and random phenomenon.