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Severe Threat May 15-16, 2025

If they decide to go EF4 despite the crappy CMU foundations throughout London, I applaud them. The contextual evidence made it clear this was a violent tornado from the first damage images we saw. THAT is how you set a good precedent and survey accurately. Construction doesn’t tell the whole story and context matters.

Honestly, with the (huge) exception of MEG, I am impressed with how offices are handling their ratings so far in 2025. With the exception that one aforementioned WFO, surveyors seem less hesitant to go higher up on the scale this year. I hope this is the start of a new trend, but I’m not getting my hopes up.
 
buckeye05 said:
If they decide to go EF4 despite the crappy CMU foundations throughout London, I applaud them. The contextual evidence made it clear this was a violent tornado from the first damage images we saw. THAT is how you set a good precedent and survey accurately. Construction doesn’t tell the whole story and context matters.

Honestly, with the (huge) exception of MEG, I am impressed with how offices are handling their ratings so far in 2025. With the exception that one aforementioned WFO, surveyors seem less hesitant to go higher up on the scale this year. I hope this is the start of a new trend, but I’m not getting my hopes up.
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It has been a lot better this year imo (except for Springfield too)
 
KCweatherboy said:
It has been a lot better this year imo (except for Springfield too)
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Ugh NWS Springfield…I forgot about that. The Bakersfield tornado was so horribly underrated I think I mentally repressed it lol.

I think maybe what I should have said is that the average to more reasonable offices are doing noticeably great survey work this year, while the problematic ones are seemingly doubling down. NWS Memphis and NWS Springfield simply need new staff. Staff changes at Little Rock and Peachtree City made a huge positive difference, and that’s likely the only way the remaining “problem offices” are going to change.
 
buckeye05 said:
If they decide to go EF4 despite the crappy CMU foundations throughout London, I applaud them. The contextual evidence made it clear this was a violent tornado from the first damage images we saw. THAT is how you set a good precedent and survey accurately. Construction doesn’t tell the whole story and context matters.

Honestly, with the (huge) exception of MEG, I am impressed with how offices are handling their ratings so far in 2025. With the exception that one aforementioned WFO, surveyors seem less hesitant to go higher up on the scale this year. I hope this is the start of a new trend, but I’m not getting my hopes up.
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I remember watching a guy on the Weather Channel who is an employee at NWS Springfield , MO walked over a hill and saw the wreckage from the Joplin tornado and he said the damage was at least EF3. I am sorry anybody with common sense who has an idea how to rate tornado damage, would automatically say it was a high-end EF4+.
 
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buckeye05 said:
The only thing I can think of is maybe it had a unique design which allowed the walls to be anchored solidly despite the subfloor? I know there are special metal clips that can be used to “bypass” the subfloor and attach to the walls, improving the anchorage. I’m wondering if they were used here. I also wonder what “engineered wood” is? It’s just so weird to see a bolt-free subfloor lead to a high end EF4 rating.
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Engineered wood is kind of a generic term, but in this case I'd assume it refers to one of a few types of specialty lumber. Basically it's made from high-quality wood (either thin strips or dimensional lumber) joined together with resin adhesives in specific patterns to eliminate imperfections and increase strength and durability. That's the idea anyway. I've seen it recommended for framing members to improve wind resistance, but I dunno how much difference it actually makes, especially if the structure isn't otherwise well-anchored.
 
OH-IOan said:
Where are people getting this info? And more importantly, why haven’t they publicly announced this yet?
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I don’t know nws Jackson Kentucky is being weird and they haven’t no reason to do so. They’ve made no announcements officially all our info is coming from (cough cough) nws chat leaks.
It’s not likely that this info is false but it could be. Ugh.
 
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