Quite a few of these tornadoes produced *no* damage indicative of EF-5 intensity, and some never even reached it. Prime example is Trousdale, which I am currently working on a path for. I have 45 damage photos from throughout its path, and not a sliver of damage suggests intensity anywhere over 170mph.
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Kds86z
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Which other ones? @Asha627
Hopewell
San Pedro
Philadelphia
New Wren
Rainsville
Tipton
El Reno
Wakefield
Rochelle
Holly Springs
Camp Crook
Monette
Sterling City
Many others on this list produced no EF5 equivalent damage, therefore they do not deserve the rating. Above are just a few examples of tornadoes deserving of their current rating.
Hopewell
San Pedro
Philadelphia
New Wren
Rainsville
Tipton
El Reno
Wakefield
Rochelle
Holly Springs
Camp Crook
Monette
Sterling City
A lot more on the list don't deserve the rating due to lack of EF5 damage, too many to list really. The only tornado post Moore 2013 that deserves EF5 is Funing.
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AJS
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Which El Reno?
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Goldsby was in 2011. This is such a controversial take for this thread it almost feels like trolling haha.
My fault for getting that date mixed up, currently in like 3 conversations at once. I wouldn't call the take controversial at all considering well over 90% of the tornadoes on that list produced no EF5 damage at all. The EF scale is a damage scale, and saying a tornado deserves a certain rating when it didn't do damage warranting that rating is quite pointless. Some of the tornadoes on the list I first replied to undoubtedly reached EF5 intensity, though a near equal amount did not. Once again, apologies for my mix up with Goldsby.
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This is a pretty iffy take. I'm not even sure why many of these tornadoes were even on the list to begin with.
I definitely didn't include all of the tornadoes that don't deserve an EF5 rating, it just confuses me why so many were even on a list in the first place. An EF4 intensity tornado (Trousdale) deserving an EF5 rating is just a very odd thing to say.
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EDIT: Returned to original form
I'm especially interested in the fact that you included Philadelphia and Rainsville in your list, despite them being officially rated EF5. I understand they don't have any conventional damage indicators pointing to EF5 intensity if we go very strictly off the confines of the scale, but the fact that the surveyors were confident enough to give them EF5 ratings is enough for me to believe it.
Besides, the damage imagery clearly points to tornadoes well into the EF5 range, with the mobile home being lofted 300 yards without making contact with the ground and the extraordinary ground scouring (It's still supremely impressive to me despite a lot of people's issues with this particular DI, even within this thread) in Philadelphia's case, as well as the contextual damage surrounding the Robinson family home and the anchored safe in the basement being lofted and thrown in Rainsville's case. Also, if we shouldn't consider these two EF5s, then El Reno 2011 shouldn't be considered an EF5 either because the EF5 damage was confined to the oil rig. That's not something included in the EF scale, but the surveyor's decision to disregard this and include the damage anyways was a good one, seeing as it was extremely violent and absolutely deserved EF5.
@Asha627 I'm interested to hear your opinions on Vilonia 2014, Chickasha 2011, and Chapman 2016. I'd also like to hear a bit of an in-depth description on what you think about Rochelle and the opinions surrounding it. What about that tornado specifically says it is a high-end EF4 rather than a 5? No venom in my comment at all, just curious.
I'm especially interested in the fact that you included Philadelphia and Rainsville in your list, despite them being officially rated EF5. I understand they don't have any conventional damage indicators pointing to EF5 intensity if we go very strictly off the confines of the scale, but the fact that the surveyors were confident enough to give them EF5 ratings is enough for me to believe it.
Besides, the damage imagery clearly points to tornadoes well into the EF5 range, with the mobile home being lofted 300 yards without making contact with the ground and the extraordinary ground scouring (It's still supremely impressive to me despite a lot of people's issues with this particular DI, even within this thread) in Philadelphia's case, as well as the contextual damage surrounding the Robinson family home and the anchored safe in the basement being lofted and thrown in Rainsville's case. Also, if we shouldn't consider these two EF5s, then El Reno 2011 shouldn't be considered an EF5 either because the EF5 damage was confined to the oil rig. That's not something included in the EF scale, but the surveyor's decision to disregard this and include the damage anyways was a good one, seeing as it was extremely violent and absolutely deserved EF5.
@Asha627 I'm interested to hear your opinions on Vilonia 2014, Chickasha 2011, and Chapman 2016. I'd also like to hear a bit of an in-depth description on what you think about Rochelle and the opinions surrounding it. What about that tornado specifically says it is a high-end EF4 rather than a 5? No venom in my comment at all, just curious.
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The first comment says his list is tornadoes that deserve their current rating. So I think he's saying Philadelphia was an EF5.
Philadelphia and Rainsville are not directly comparable to El Reno 2011 in my opinion, as neither of them were rated EF5 due to structural damage. I do see where you're coming from with all three being rated using unconventional damage indicators. I believe the cases are just vastly different and the intensity of contextual damage is as well.
Vilonia I have not looked into very extensively, so I will not make any firm statements, but I do believe it was well into the range of EF5 intensity. I've seen mixed opinions regarding what rating it deserved, as many of the affected homes did have structural flaws.
I'm saying Philadelphia did not deserve its rating. The tornadoes I listed were just some that I feel do not belong on the original list.
Aaron Rider
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New Wren, Philadelphia, and Rainsville are legitimate, bona fide EF5s and it is a hell of a hot take to suggest otherwise. I'm at work on lunch break and my time is limited but New Wren, for example, did extremely impressive contextual and even structural devastation- they literally just missed it
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Rainsville was rated EF5 based on damage to houses in combination with the added contextual evidence.
Aaron Rider
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" I've seen mixed opinions regarding what rating it deserved, as many of the affected homes did have structural flaws."
I'll be blunt: any opinion about Vilonia besides "obviously EF5" should be automatically discounted.
You can argue about Rochelle, Sterling City, probably Holly Springs, but Vilonia? Naw fam
New Wren produced damage in-line with an EF4 tornado, and both Philadelphia and Rainsville have their peak conventional damage indicators in the high end EF4 range. Philadelphia was upgraded to an EF5 rating due to its trench and the fact that it lofted a mobile home 300 yards, while Rainsville was upgraded due to general contextual damage. None of this is considered on the EF scale, and in my opinion an EF5 rating for any of those tornadoes is unwarranted.
The maximum structural damage indicator for Rainsville was a swept CMU home rated EF4 185, which seems quite fair for the tornado in general. I don't believe it should be rated any higher than that.
Aaron Rider
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The New Wren tornado did not produce EF4 damage. The Tornado Talk article is now pay walled. What they found was extraordinary. https://talkweather.com/threads/significant-tornado-events.1276/page-193#post-59103
There is also nothing inherently wrong with using context for an upgrade when the context is blatantly absurd.