ShawneeDispatch.com

Next year the National Weather Service will begin using a different scale to measure the intensity of tornadoes. The Enhanced Fujita Scale, which will enter the lexicon in February 2007, will replace the original Fujita Scale.

Both scales use a zero-to-five scale, but Mike Hudson, warning coordination meteorologist for the weather service, said ranges in wind speed will be more accurate with the new rating scale.

The original F scale was developed in 1971 by Dr. T. Theodore Fujita to rate tornadoes and estimate associated wind speeds based on the damage they cause.

Hudson said the original Fujita scale may have led to inconsistent ratings of tornadoes, including possible overestimates of wind speeds associated with them. The new EF scale incorporates more damage indicators and degrees of damage than the original F scale, allowing more detailed analysis and better correlation between damage and wind speed.

The Enhanced Fujita Scale was developed by the Texas Tech University Wind Science and Engineering Research Center and a consortium of wind engineers, universities, private companies, private meteorologists and government organizations including the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Agency.

Tornado F-Scale EF-Scale

Intensity winds, winds,

mph mph

0 40-72 65-85

1 73-112 86-110

2 113-157 111-135

3 158-207 136-165

4 208-260 166-200

5 261-318 201+

F-scale wind measurements use the fastest quarter-mile speed.

EF-scale winds use the fastest three-second gust.

From the NOAA National Weather Service in Pleasant Hill, Mo.