Concepts
Fujita Scale
foo-JEE-tah
Also Known As Enhanced Fujita Scale The Enhanced Fujita Scale is the successor scale in current use (United States since 2007, Canada since 2013), not a synonym for the original; recorded as the common name a reader searches for.
Observational Scale
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A scale rating tornado intensity from F0 to F5 by the damage a tornado inflicts on structures and vegetation rather than by any wind reading taken inside the tornado itself, which is rarely possible. Tetsuya Fujita of the University of Chicago introduced it in 1971 with Allen Pearson of the National Severe Storms Forecast Center. Later research found the original scale overstated the wind speed needed to produce its most severe damage categories, so the United States replaced it with the Enhanced Fujita Scale on 1 February 2007, rating damage against twenty-eight indicators instead of the original's broader structural categories; Canada adopted the Enhanced scale in 2013.
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Beaufort Scale, Concepts Both scales rate wind intensity by its observed physical effects, on tornado damage and on sea or land conditions respectively, rather than by a direct instrumental wind reading at the event itself.
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