Editing Tornado (section)

==Intensity and damage==
{{Main|Tornado intensity and damage}}
{| class="wikitable" style="float: right;"
|-
|+ Tornado rating classifications<ref name="significant tornadoes"/><ref>
{{Cite web |url=http://www.tornadoproject.com/fscale/fscale.htm |title=The Fujita Scale of Tornado Intensity |access-date=2013-05-08 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111230005516/http://www.tornadoproject.com/fscale/fscale.htm |archive-date=2011-12-30 |url-status=dead }} 
</ref>
|-
! style="background: #e0e0ff;" | '''F0<br />EF0'''
! style="background: #e0e0ff;" | '''F1<br />EF1'''
! style="background: #e0e0ff;" | '''F2<br />EF2'''
! style="background: #e0e0ff;" | '''F3<br />EF3'''
! style="background: #e0e0ff;" | '''F4<br />EF4'''
! style="background: #e0e0ff;" | '''F5<br />EF5'''
|-
| colspan="2" style="background: #fd0;"    | Weak
| colspan="2" style="background: #f3943f;" | Strong
| colspan="2" style="background: #ea5297;" | Violent
|-
| colspan="2" | <!-- blank -->
| colspan="4" style="background: #ffce44;" | Significant
|-
| colspan="3" | <!-- blank -->
| colspan="3" style="background: #e84e0f;" | Intense
|}

The [[Fujita scale]], [[Enhanced Fujita scale]] (EF), and [[International Fujita scale]] rate tornadoes by damage caused. The EF scale was an update to the older Fujita scale, by [[expert elicitation]], using engineered wind estimates and better damage descriptions. The EF scale was designed so that a tornado rated on the Fujita scale would receive the same numerical rating, and was implemented starting in the United States in 2007. An EF0 tornado will probably damage trees but not substantial structures, whereas an [[List of F5 and EF5 tornadoes|EF5]] tornado can rip buildings off their foundations leaving them bare and even deform large [[skyscraper]]s. The similar [[TORRO scale]] ranges from a T0 for extremely weak tornadoes to T11 for the most powerful known tornadoes. [[Pulse-Doppler radar|Doppler]] [[weather radar]] data, [[photogrammetry]], and ground swirl patterns ([[cycloid]]al marks) may also be analyzed to determine intensity and award a rating.<ref name="SPC FAQ"/><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.crh.noaa.gov/news/display_cmsstory.php?wfo%3Dcys%26storyid%3D28445%26source%3D2 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100528014750/http://www.crh.noaa.gov/news/display_cmsstory.php?wfo=cys&storyid=28445&source=2 |url-status=dead |archive-date=2010-05-28 |title=Goshen County Tornado Given Official Rating of EF2 |work=[[National Weather Service]] |publisher=National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration |access-date=2009-11-21 }}</ref><ref>{{cite conference|first1=David C.|last1=Lewellen |first2=M. I.|last2= Zimmerman |date=2008-10-28|title=Using Simulated Tornado Surface Marks to Decipher Near-Ground Winds|conference=24th Conf. Severe Local Storms|conference-url=http://ams.confex.com/ams/24SLS/techprogram/program_508.htm|publisher=American Meteorological Society|url=http://ams.confex.com/ams/pdfpapers/141749.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/http://ams.confex.com/ams/pdfpapers/141749.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live|access-date=2009-12-09}}</ref>

[[File:Shown here May 22, 2013, is an aerial view of homes destroyed by a tornado in Moore, Okla 130522-F-IE715-379.jpg|thumb|On May&nbsp;20, 2013, a [[2013 Moore tornado|large tornado]] of the highest category, EF5, ravaged [[Moore, Oklahoma]].]]

Tornadoes vary in intensity regardless of shape, size, and location, though strong tornadoes are typically larger than weak tornadoes. The association with track length and duration also varies, although longer track tornadoes tend to be stronger.<ref name="width/length intensity relationship">{{Cite journal |last=Brooks |first=Harold E. |date=2004-04-01 |title=On the Relationship of Tornado Path Length and Width to Intensity |journal=Weather and Forecasting |language=en |volume=19 |issue=2 |pages=310–319 |bibcode=2004WtFor..19..310B |doi=10.1175/1520-0434(2004)019<0310:OTROTP>2.0.CO;2 |issn=0882-8156 |doi-access=free}}</ref> In the case of violent tornadoes, only a small portion of the path is of violent intensity, most of the higher intensity from [[multiple vortex tornado|subvortices]].<ref name="significant tornadoes"/>

In the United States, 80% of tornadoes are EF0 and EF1 (T0 through T3) tornadoes. The rate of occurrence drops off quickly with increasing strength—less than 1% are violent tornadoes (EF4, T8 or stronger).<ref name="Basic Spotter Guide">{{cite web|url=https://www.weather.gov/media/grr/brochures/nwsbasicspottersfieldguide.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/https://www.weather.gov/media/grr/brochures/nwsbasicspottersfieldguide.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live|title=basic Spotters' Field Guide|publisher=National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, National Weather Service}}</ref> Current records may significantly underestimate the frequency of strong (EF2-EF3) and violent (EF4-EF5) tornadoes, as damage-based intensity estimates are limited to structures and vegetation that a tornado impacts. A tornado may be much stronger than its damage-based rating indicates if its strongest winds occur away from suitable damage indicators, such as in an open field.<ref>{{Cite journal | doi=10.1175/WAF-D-14-00152.1| title=A Multiscale Overview of the el Reno, Oklahoma, Tornadic Supercell of 31 May 2013| journal=Weather and Forecasting| volume=30| issue=3| pages=525–552| year=2015| last1=Bluestein| first1=Howard B.| last2=Snyder| first2=Jeffrey C.| last3=Houser| first3=Jana B.| bibcode=2015WtFor..30..525B| doi-access=free}}</ref><ref name="EFunderstimate">{{cite journal |last1=Wurman |first1=Joshua |last2=Kosiba |first2=Karen |last3=White |first3=Trevor |last4=Robinson |first4=Paul |title=Supercell tornadoes are much stronger and wider than damage-based ratings indicate |journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences |date=6 April 2021 |volume=118 |issue=14 |page=e2021535118 |doi=10.1073/pnas.2021535118 |pmid=33753558 |pmc=8040662 |bibcode=2021PNAS..11821535W |doi-access=free }}</ref> Outside [[Tornado Alley]], and North America in general, violent tornadoes are extremely rare. This is apparently mostly due to the lesser number of tornadoes overall, as research shows that tornado intensity distributions are fairly similar worldwide. A few significant tornadoes occur annually in Europe, Asia, southern Africa, and southeastern South America.<ref name="intensity distribution">{{Cite journal|title=Statistical modeling of tornado intensity distributions |last1=Dotzek |first1=Nikolai |date=2003-03-01 |journal=Atmos. Res. |volume=67 |pages=163–87 |bibcode=2003AtmRe..67..163D |last2=Grieser |first2=Jürgen |last3=Brooks |first3=Harold E.|doi=10.1016/S0169-8095(03)00050-4|citeseerx=10.1.1.490.4573 }}</ref>
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