I suspect Grazulis' ten mile path would be more accurate.The shortest path for an F5/EF5 tornado was the Adair, IA tornado on June 27, 1953.
Cass-Adair County, IA F5 Tornado – June 27, 1953 – Tornado Talk
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- Thread starter MattPetrulli
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Shakespeare 2016
Member
Yeah, but you can never rule out an EF5 tornado that has a path length of less than 1 mile.
Edit...However it has gotten almost to the point to say why should we even have an EF5 rating.
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I don't know what the shortest path for a violent tornado is, but the shortest I have in my speeds database is Granbury at 2.5 miles.
There are a lot mistakes in the SPC database - there was an F4 that hit Oil Trough, Arkansas with an offical length of 0.4 miles that Grazulis says was 5 miles. You see a lot of older path widths with numbers like 10 yards or 40 yards. I suspect in those cases a zero has gone missing. The irritating thing is that these are fixed in stone for no reason whatsoever (yet somehow the Super Outbreak gained an extra F5 years later).
There's also interesting problems with more recent tornadoes - the offical max width of the 2006 Crosstown F4 is 225 yards (it was bigger than that) and I've seen references to 'skipping' tornadoes as late as 2008 (I haven't looked later).
And yes, we may as well not have an EF5 category. I'm not the kind who wishes for one, but I want a spade called a spade.
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TheSuckZone
Member
Oh my god, that's absolutely enormous. Isn't that as big as Greensburg?
Shakespeare 2016
Member
Same size as Greensburg.
tornado examiner
Member
Wow...so none of the damage from the long tracker in kentucky was even close to ef4. Why did nws Paducah feel the need to call a qrt?
SouthFLwx
Member
160 mph is close to EF4.
Did they release a new PNS?
Kds86z
Member
They list the fatality. Wikipedia needs to catch up..
Cood101
Member
I'm not sure what you are referring to? I'm checking the Paducah NWS survey page as well as their social media accounts. I see nothing about a finalized rating yet. Currently at 160MPH EF3.
Shakespeare 2016
Member
I saw a 165 mph EF3 rating.
Shakespeare 2016
Member
If one more tornado gets rated EF4, it will be the most violent tornadoes in the month of May in the US since 2013.
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15.9 MPH. That's slow for a long-tracker anywhere, let alone outside of the Plains.
And we’re not even halfway through the year.
Shakespeare 2016
Member
Nevermind, they changed the windspeed from 165 mph to 160 mph for some reason.
Shakespeare 2016
Member
You would think they would have been stronger. It either didn't hit the right DI'S or the tornadoes were not as strong as you would think.
Shakespeare 2016
Member
Nevermind that is probably not going to happen now. They have to nit pick practically every potential EF4 rating down to high-end EF3.
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tornado examiner
Member
The one home that was a candidate for ef4 was the home built on a poorly constructed cinder block foundation with no decent connections. Tree damage near the home isn’t impressive at all. That's why I said “no where near close to ef4” I thought they’d found other slabbed homes that were in contention for ef4…but it was just that one lol.
