Latest news with #EnhancedFujitaScale
Yahoo
13-06-2025
- Climate
- Yahoo
EF0 tornado confirmed near Little Rock Air Force Base
PULASKI COUNTY, Ark. – The National Weather Service has confirmed a tornado during the Thursday afternoon severe weather system. An EF0 tornado was confirmed just north of the Little Rock Air Force Base. An EF0 tornado is characterized by wind speeds ranging from 65 to 85 mph. This is the weakest category on the Enhanced Fujita Scale. A Tornado Warning was issued Thursday afternoon around 4 p.m. until 4:15 p.m. for Pulaski, Lonoke, White, Faulkner Counties. The Arkansas Storm Team is still tracking potential heavy rainfall throughout the weekend. Download the AST App to stay weather aware. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
12-06-2025
- Climate
- Yahoo
What is the weakest wind speed for a tornado?
LEWIS COUNTY, Tenn. (WKRN) — Tornadoes can be extremely destructive and dangerous with winds reaching in excess of 200 miles per hour. However, have you ever wondered what the weakest tornado is? The Enhanced Fujita Scale is used to determine the severity of tornadoes: from an EF-0, the weakest, to an EF-5, the strongest. According to the scale, an EF-0 tornado has winds ranging from 65 to 85 mph. One might think this would answer the question and the weakest possible tornado has minimum wind gusts of 65 mph, but it doesn't. EXPLAINER: How tornadoes get their ratings Recently, the National Weather Service in Nashville confirmed an EF-0 tornado in northern Lewis County with maximum wind gusts of 60 mph. The maximum wind speed of 60 mph was the lowest that any of the News 2 meteorologists have seen within a tornado. So, the Weather Authority team asked about it. According to Ryan Husted, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service in Nashville, the tornado was caught on camera, so there's no question it occurred. VIDEO: EF-0 tornado confirmed on June 6 in Maury County 'During the event, we were watching a webcam and you could see it there, you could see the little funnel spinning on the ground, and there was a funnel cloud or at least a wall cloud hanging down from that storm,' recalled Husted. 'So obviously there's something there, I just can't find significant damage so I can rate it. So that's why we went with that low wind speed.' Husted added the area in northern Lewis County has very little road access and was mostly private property, so getting to potential damage would have been extremely difficult. He told News 2 he has given a tornado a rating this low once before. ⏩ In fact, there is such a thing as a tornado being rated an EF-U, where the 'U' stands for Unknown. This is commonly given to tornadoes that were caught on video but caused no damage. However, Husted said the National Weather Service office in Nashville doesn't rate tornadoes as EF-Us to keep local records consistent. The definition of a tornado is a violently rotating column of air, and with no exact boundaries, a tornado could be weaker than 65 mph and stronger than 200 mph, according to Husted. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
11-06-2025
- Climate
- Yahoo
Official Storm Damage Survey on Eastern Erie County Tornado
Venango Twp. Tornado in Eastern Erie County National Weather Service Cleveland OH 534 PM EDT Tue Jun 10 2025 …NWS Damage Survey for 6/09/2025 Tornado Event in Eastern Erie County Pennsylvania… .Eastern Erie County Tornado… Rating: EF2 Estimated Peak Wind: 115 mph Path Length /statute/: 1.06 miles Path Width /maximum/: 150 yards Fatalities: 0 Injuries: 0 Start Date: 06/09/2025 Start Time: 05:49 PM EDT Start Location: 6 NW Wattsburg / Erie County / PA Start Lat/Lon: 42.0755 / -79.8903 End Date: 06/09/2025 End Time: 05:52 PM EDT End Location: 7 NW Wattsburg / Erie County / PA End Lat/Lon: 42.0881 / -79.8791 Survey Summary: The National Weather Service Cleveland office confirmed an EF- 2 tornado in eastern Erie County, Pennsylvania, with maximum estimated wind speeds of 115 mph and a maximum path width of 150 yards. The tornado touched down just northwest of the intersection of Plum Road and Page Road, with swirls in the field and moving northeast toppling a large tree and destroying a barn near Knoyle Rd. The tornado crossed Knoyle Road and struck a second barn directly, which contained several vehicles and trailers. The barn was destroyed, leaving the cars heavily damaged and a trailer overturned. Debris from the structure was across a nearby field and into the adjacent woods. Two horses and several cows were killed as a result of the tornado. A nearby home sustained moderate damage, including ripped siding from the west side, broken windows, and a blown-out side door. The tornado continued northeast across an open field before entering a wooded area, where it damaged several trees. It then lifted shortly thereafter. && EF Scale: The Enhanced Fujita Scale classifies tornadoes into the following categories: EF0…..65 to 85 mph EF1…..86 to 110 mph EF2…..111 to 135 mph EF3…..136 to 165 mph EF4…..166 to 200 mph EF5…..>200 mph NOTE: The information in this statement is preliminary and subject to change pending final review of the events and publication in NWS Storm Data. Our Forecast and interactive radar at Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
31-05-2025
- Climate
- Yahoo
1 dead and several injured when storm rips through Kentucky community, authorities say
SPRINGFIELD, Ky. (AP) — The National Weather Service issued tornado warnings for parts of Kentucky, Tennessee, West Virginia and Virginia on Friday, hours after a harsh storm hit a remote area of central Kentucky, killing one person and injuring seven others. In Kentucky, Washington County Judge-executive Timothy Graves said two or three houses were destroyed and downed trees temporarily blocked roads. 'We were fortunate this was located in a remote part of the county,' Graves said. Gov. Andy Beshear canceled a visit planned for Friday to Pulaski and Laurel counties, which were hit by a tornado earlier this month. That storm left 19 dead in the state. Officials were responding to reports of a possible tornado in Washington County, he said in a social media post. 'This level of severe weather was unexpected, with a system still moving through the state,' Beshear said. 'We also expect to see additional storms today with Eastern and Southeastern Kentucky facing a risk of more severe weather. Please be alert this morning and stay safe.' The National Weather Service's office in Louisville, Kentucky, said a crew surveying damage Friday in Washington County was following a damage path that may enter neighboring Mercer County. By midday, the crew had found 'at least' EF1 on the Enhanced Fujita Scale tornado damage in southwestern Washington County, the office said in a social media post. Three of the injured people were taken to University of Kentucky Hospital in Lexington. County Emergency Management Director Kevin Devine said the county was not expecting harsh weather Friday morning. In a social media post, the sheriff's office asked people to stay home to allow emergency workers to do their jobs. In Tennessee, multiple people were injured when severe weather hit the Philadelphia area of Loudon County, on Friday morning, the county sheriff's office said in a social media post. The weather service's office in Morristown later preliminarily confirmed in a social media post that an EF0 tornado struck near the border of Loudon and Monroe counties. Also on Friday, National Weather Service surveyors said a Thursday afternoon tornado near Atlanta reached top wind speeds estimated at 135 mph (217 kph), throwing the son of actor Tray Chaney nearly 300 feet (91 meters) from the second-floor window of his home and leaving him with critical injuries. The storm, rated EF2, damaged about a dozen houses in a subdivision in Locust Grove, about 30 miles (45 kilometers) southeast of the city. Residents told news outlets they had no advance warning of the twister, which meteorologists said dropped out of a thunderstorm that had showed weak and broad rotation. The tornado was on the ground for 5 minutes, covering 1.8 miles (2.9 kilometers). Along one street, the tornado ripped off siding and shingles, blowing out windows. Damage was worst at the Chaney home, which was destroyed except for one interior closet on the first floor where clothes were still hanging. Malachi Chaney, the son, was found in nearby woods and taken to an Atlanta hospital. Tray Chaney, best known for his role on 'The Wire,' said his son remained hospitalized in intensive care on Friday, with injuries including broken ribs and fractured bones in his face. Tray Chaney said he suffered a bruise on the head. In a video recorded shortly thereafter, Chaney said he wished he could trade places with his son, who just completed his freshman year at Savannah State University. 'I wish he was the one that was doing the video, and I was still in the ICU,' Tray Chaney said. It was the third round of tornadoes in northern Georgia this week, with the weather service confirming three weaker twisters northwest of Atlanta on Sunday and three more tornadoes west of the city on Tuesday. In addition to tornado warnings, the National Weather Service issued a tornado watch for parts of North Carolina, Virginia and West Virginia until Friday night. The Associated Press
Boston Globe
29-05-2025
- Climate
- Boston Globe
30 years ago today, a destructive tornado tore through a small Massachusetts town
Advertisement There wasn't much left of the Great Barrington Fairgrounds after a tornado struck the night of May 29, 1995. RYAN, DAVID STAFF PHOTO The sheer force of the Great Barrington tornado toppled tall trees like matchsticks on May 29, 1995. RYAN, DAVID STAFF PHOTO It was the strongest tornado that the state of Massachusetts had seen since the June 9, 1953, twister that struck Worcester. During that evening of May 29, 1995, which was the observed Memorial Day that year, a cluster of severe thunderstorms had pushed into Berkshire County and triggered a tornado warning from the National Weather Service office out of Albany, N.Y. At first, the supercell that spawned the Greater Barrington tornado actually had produced a prior tornado in Eastern New York, an F2 that traversed 15 miles. As the storms pushed over the Massachusetts state line, huge amounts of moisture and wind shear from neighboring storms helped the supercell restrengthen, spawning the larger, deadly tornado. Advertisement Numerous vehicles and buildings were impaled by flying debris from trees, fences, and other timber. Multiple buildings lost their roofs or flat-out collapsed, including the local fairground, a supermarket, and a gas station. Bud Rodgers takes a breather after helping to clear trees from the yard of his neighbor, who, along with his family, escaped injury when their roof collapsed during the Great Barrington tornado of 1995. CHIN, BARRY GLOBE STAFF PHOTO Radar imagery on the evening of May 29, 1995, shows a supercell (deep red) pushing through Great Barrington. NWS The tornado was designated as F4 strength under the original Fujita scale, which had a strict and only wind threshold to measure tornado strength. An Enhanced Fujita Scale was implemented in 2007, taking into account damages to building structures and wind and there's a good chance that the Great Barrington twister would have been deemed an EF5 tornado by today's standards. The Enhanced Fujita Scale takes into account wind speed as well as building damage. The wind speed threshold is also lower than the original Fujita scale. NOAA Tornadoes form within supercell thunderstorms with wind shear, a change in direction and speed of wind as you move higher into the atmosphere. Ample moisture will make the air light enough and be lifted vertically, which can create a rotating column of air or tornado. Changes in directional wind shear as air rises vertically into the atmosphere will initiate rotation. Boston Globe Strong updrafts will tilt the tube of rotating air upright, forming into a tornado. Boston Globe Ken Mahan can be reached at
