Coastal guys aren’t outta the woods yet but looks everyone towards the center to west coast should be ok.
Yep and last year 2018 we went without a single "Violent" tornado for the first time since 1950 Violent Tornadoes are EF4 or EF5, basically winds over 166mph. Statistically they make less than 2% of all tornadoes.
Actually that is inaccurate. Local WFOs survey tornado damage in their CWAs. SPC does nothing when it comes to rating Tors. As for the EF scale, don’t get hung up on the wind speeds. The wind speeds are actually estimated from “Degree of Damage (DOD)” indicators. Damage is surveyed with ratings applied taking into account structure type and construction, as you stated. Studies done at Texas Tech proved that even most well built structures cannot survive above 200mph, thus no real need for any higher categories. Sent from my iPhone using the svtperformance.com mobile app
I drove down to Mustang Week Sunday evening just to leave three hours after getting there, when the governor announced mandatory evacuation, because I didn't care to be stuck in the inevitable traffic. Oh well. Still have most of the week off and thinking about riding out to Gatlinburg/Pigeon Forge for Mustang Week 2.0/Tail of the Dragon.
Watching the Weather Channel as I am still sick and off work and they are broadcasting live from Daytona. Looks like Northeast Florida is going to be spared the wrath of Dorian.
Thanks for the clarification! I know that was the way it was with tornados in the past, but for some odd reason I was thinking that part of what they did in the transition to the Enhanced Fujita scale was to have the same team of people look at damage and give estimates of all the tornadoes to make the data a bit more consistent, but I was mistaken. I'm just trying to figure out where I may have heard it? Edit- after some reading it looks like with violent tornadoes and especially outbreaks, the NWS often sends a "highly experienced survey teams", wind engineers etc. Somehow I applied that to all tornadoes. https://www.accuweather.com/en/weat...ated-using-the-enhanced-fujita-scale/70001482 RIP mustang week 2019
While we're of Categories of storms.....how do you suppose they establish (estimate) Hurricane wind speeds??
Yeah that is true, we still send WFO reps out, but generally if it’s looking like an EF5 we can opt to call in a third party from HQ or SPC. Doesn’t always happen though. Depends on the workload. Sent from my iPhone using the svtperformance.com mobile app
They use a “dropsonde” which is a device very similar to a “radiosonde” (used on weather balloons). The fly atop the eyewall and drop the device from the plane, which transmits vital weather data and GPS positioning. Using that GPS they can calculate wind speed and direction. Sent from my iPhone using the svtperformance.com mobile app