LIST OF F5 AND EF5 TORNADOES

This is a list of all official and possible F5 tornadoes ever recorded. Also included are the official Enhanced Fujita Scale 5 tornadoes – the replacement of the older tornado classification system – which came into effect in February 2007.

Contents

Official F5 tornadoes

Official Enhanced Fujita Scale 5 (EF5) tornadoes

Possible F5 tornadoes

See also

References

External links

Canadian Sources

Official F5 tornadoes

The tornadoes on this list have been officially rated F5 by the National Weather Service and compiled by the Storm Prediction Center and National Climatic Data Center. No tornadoes prior to 1950 were ranked by these agencies due to inadequate engineering and other data on the historical tornadoes.
For United States tornadoes as of February 1, 2007, the Fujita scale has been recalibrated to more accurately match tornado speeds with their damage and to augment and refine damage descriptors. The new system is called the Enhanced Fujita scale. No earlier tornadoes will be reclassified, and no new tornadoes in the United States will be rated F5.
Total: 52

'Date'	'Location'	'Death Toll'	'Wikipedia article'	'Disputed?'
March 21, 1952	Moscow, Tennessee	?
May 11, 1953	Waco, Texas	114	Waco Tornado
May 29, 1953	Ft. Rice, North Dakota	2
June 8, 1953	Flint, Michigan	116[1]	Flint-Worcester Tornadoes
June 27, 1953	Adair, Iowa	1
December 5, 1953	Vicksburg, MS	?		Yes, destroyed structures were frail
May 25, 1955	Blackwell, Oklahoma	20	Plains Outbreak of May 1955
May 25, 1955	Udall, Kansas	82	Plains Outbreak of May 1955
April 3, 1956	Grand Rapids - Hudsonville, Michigan	18	Hudsonville-Standale Tornado of April 1956
May 20, 1957	Kansas - Missouri	44	Central Plains Outbreak of May 1957
June 20, 1957	Fargo, North Dakota [1]	10	Fargo Tornado of 1957
December 18, 1957	Murphysboro, Illinois	1
June 4, 1958	Menomonie, Wisconsin	20
February 10, 1959	Ellisville - St. Louis, Missouri - Madison County, Illinois	21
May 5, 1960	Prague, Oklahoma	5
April 3, 1964	Wichita Falls, Texas	7
May 5, 1964	Bradshaw, Nebraska	2
May 8, 1965	Gregory, South Dakota	0
March 3, 1966	Jackson, Mississippi	57	Candlestick Park Tornado
June 8, 1966	Topeka, Kansas	16	Topeka Tornado of 1966
October 14, 1966	Belmond, Iowa	16		Yes[2]
April 23, 1968	Gallipolis, Ohio	7		Yes, destroyed structures were not swept away
May 15, 1968	Charles City, Iowa	13
May 15, 1968	Oelwein, Iowa	1
June 13, 1968	Tracy, Minnesota	9
May 11, 1970	Lubbock, Texas	28	Lubbock Tornado
February 21, 1971	Delhi, Louisiana	46	Delta Outbreak of February 1971
May 6, 1973	Valley Mills, Texas	0
April 3, 1974	Hanover - Depauw, Indiana	6	Super Outbreak
April 3, 1974	Brandenburg, Kentucky	31	Super Outbreak
April 3, 1974	Xenia, Ohio	32	Super Outbreak
April 3, 1974	Sayler Park (Cincinnati, Ohio)	3	Super Outbreak
April 3, 1974	Tanner, Alabama	28	Super Outbreak
April 3, 1974	Guin, Alabama	30	Super Outbreak
March 26, 1976	Spiro, Oklahoma	2
April 19, 1976	Brownwood, Texas	0
June 13, 1976	Jordan, Iowa	0
April 4, 1977	Birmingham, Alabama	22	Birmingham Tornado of April 1977
July 16, 1979	Cheyenne, Wyoming	1
April 2, 1982	Broken Bow, Oklahoma	0
June 7, 1984	Barneveld, Wisconsin	9
May 31, 1985	Niles, Ohio - Wheatland, Pennsylvania	18	The US-Canadian Outbreak
March 13, 1990	Hesston, Kansas	1	Central US Tornado Outbreak of 1990
March 13, 1990	Goessel, Kansas	1	Central US Tornado Outbreak of 1990
August 28, 1990	Plainfield, Illinois	29	Plainfield Tornado
April 26, 1991	Andover, Kansas	17	Andover, Kansas Tornado Outbreak
June 16, 1992	Chandler, Minnesota	1	Mid-June 1992 Tornado Outbreak
July 18, 1996	Oakfield, Wisconsin	0	Oakfield Tornado
May 27, 1997	Jarrell, Texas	27	Central Texas tornado outbreak
April 8, 1998	Oak Grove - Birmingham, Alabama	32	Birmingham Tornado of April 1998
April 16, 1998	Lawrence County, Tennessee	3	Nashville tornado outbreak of 1998
May 3, 1999	Bridge Creek - Moore, Oklahoma	36	Oklahoma Tornado Outbreak

Official Enhanced Fujita Scale 5 (EF5) tornadoes

As of February 1, 2007, all tornadoes within the United States are rated with the Enhanced Fujita Scale which replaced the Fujita Scale. The following 'List of EF5 tornadoes' has all tornadoes classified as 'EF5', the strongest category, since February 1, 2007.
Total 1.

'Date'	'Location'	'Death Toll'	'Wikipedia article'
May 4, 2007	Greensburg, Kansas [3]	12	May 2007 Tornado Outbreak

Possible F5 tornadoes

These are tornadoes that were analyzed to be F5 or possibly F5 by an authoritative source.

'Date'	'Location'	'Death Toll'	'Wikipedia article'	'F5 reasoning'
June 29, 1764	Woldegk, Germany	1		Based on newspaper report[4][5]
April 23, 1800	Hainichen, Germany	0		Based on newspaper report
August 19, 1845	Monville, France	70		Unverified classification of F5 by "tornado expert"
April 24, 1880	Christian County, Illinois	6-11		Homes were leveled, farms vanished
June 12, 1881	Nodaway County, Missouri	2	Hopkins Tornado of 1881	Two farms completely swept away
June 17, 1882	Boone - Story - Marshall - Jasper - Poweshiek County, Iowa	68		Several farms leveled, town of Grinnell devastated
August 21, 1883	Rochester, Dodge County, Minnesota	37	1883 Rochester Tornado	Ten farms outside the town leveled
April 1, 1884	Oakville, Indiana	8		Parts of the town "vanished"
August 28, 1884	Howard, South Dakota	?
June 15, 1892	Faribault - Freeborn - Steele County, Minnesota	9		Several farms destroyed
May 22, 1893	Darlington, Wisconsin	3		Two farm complexes swept away
July 6, 1893	Cherokee - Buena Vista - Pocahontas - Calhoun County, Iowa	71		Homes swept away in all four counties
September 21, 1894	Iowa - Minnesota	14		Five farms and a home were swept away leaving little trace
May 1, 1895	Sedgwick County, Kansas	8-11		Farms "entirely vanished"
May 3, 1895	Sioux County, Iowa	9-15		Farms swept away
April 25 1896	Cloud County - Clay County - Washington County, Kansas	9-11
May 15, 1896	Sherman, Grayson County, Texas	73		Farms, 20 homes leveled
May 17, 1896	Nemaha - Brown County, Kansas - Nebraska	25		Opera house in Seneca swept away, along with some farms
May 25, 1896	Oakland County, Michigan	47		Houses and farms leveled.
November 25, 1896	Mart, Texas	1
May 18, 1898	Marathon County, Wisconsin	12		Twelve farms destroyed
June 12, 1899	St. Croix County - New Richmond, Wisconsin	117	New Richmond Tornado	Leveled several buildings, destroyed the town
November 20, 1900	Moon Lake, Mississippi - Lagrange, Tennessee	30
May 8, 1905	Marquette, Kansas	34
May 10, 1905	Snyder, Oklahoma	97	Snyder, Oklahoma tornado	Many structures swept away
June 5, 1905	Colling, Michigan	5		Three farms "wiped out of existence"
April 23, 1908	Pender, Nebraska	3		Well-built home swept away
June 5, 1908	Carleton, Nebraska	11		Farms vanished
August 20 1911	Antler, North Dakota	7
June 15, 1912	Creighton, Missouri	5		Two large homes swept away
June 11, 1915	Mullinville, Kansas	0		One farm blown away
May 25, 1917	Sedgwick, Kansas	23		Many structures swept away
May 26, 1917	Monroe County, Indiana	0		Three farms leveled
May 21, 1918	Boone County, Iowa	9		At least two farms swept away
May 21, 1918	Denison, Iowa	4		Homes swept bare to the foundations
June 22, 1919	Fergus Falls, Minnesota	57	Fergus Falls Tornado of 1919	Three block-wide swath swept away, house thrown into a lake
April 20, 1920	Winston County, Alabama	20		Many homes swept away
July 22, 1920	Frobisher - Alameda, Saskatchewan	4		"Splendid homes" swept away[6]
March 11, 1923	Pinson, Tennessee	20		An entire section of the town swept away
May 14, 1923	Big Spring, Texas	23		A large home and farms were swept away
September 21, 1924	Clark County - Taylor County, Wisconsin	18		Twenty farms destroyed, some flattened
March 18, 1925	Missouri - Illinois - Indiana	695	Tri-State Tornado	Hundreds of structures oblitterated
June 3, 1925	Pottawattamie - Harrison County, Iowa	0		Nearly the same path as the next tornado, see below
June 3, 1925	Pottawattamie - Harrison County, Iowa	0		Parts of two farms and some homes swept away, but they may have been hit by both tornadoes
April 12, 1927	Rock Springs, Texas	74	Rock Springs Tornado of April 1927	Swept away more than 90% of the town
May 7, 1927	McPherson, Kansas	10		Some farms swept away
June 1, 1927	Neede, Netherlands[7]	?		Some photographs indicate F5 damage
April 10, 1929	Sneed, Arkansas	23		Destroyed the community
July 20, 1931	Lublin, Poland	?		Unverified F5 rating by severe weather expert
May 22, 1933	Tryon, Nebraska	8		Two farms swept away
July 1, 1935	Benson, Saskatchewan	1		Several structures leveled[6]
April 5, 1936	Tupelo, Mississippi	216	Tupelo-Gainesville Outbreak	Leveled many well-constructed houses
April 26, 1938	Oshkosh, Nebraska	3		School disintigrated, two farms swept away
June 10, 1938	Clyde, Texas	14		Nine homes swept away
April 14, 1939	Vici, Oklahoma - Kiowa, Kansas	7		Homes swept away
July 15, 1940	Borzymmen (Borzymy), Mazury, Poland	1		Rated as F4, unverified report cited damage as F4-F5
March 16, 1942	Lacon, Illinois	7		Many homes swept away
April 28, 1942	Crowell, Texas	11		Many homes "vanished"
April 29, 1942	Oberlin, Kansas	15		Three farms scoured from the earth
June 17, 1944	Summit, South Dakota	8		Farms swept away with no visible debris
April 12, 1945	Antlers, Oklahoma	69	Antlers Tornado of April 1945	Six hundred buildings destroyed
June 17, 1946	Windsor, Ontario	17	Windsor - Tecumseh, Ontario tornado of 1946	hundreds of houses destroyed, some with their foundations removed. Officially an F4, but some speculated F5 damage was caused. [9]
August 20, 1946	Klodzko Slaskie, Poland	?		Unverified damage report cited "F4-F5" damage
April 9, 1947	Woodward, Oklahoma	181	Glazier-Higgins-Woodward Tornadoes	Several towns partially or totally destroyed
May 31, 1947	Leedey, Oklahoma	6		Many structures swept away leaving no debris
September 26, 1951	Waupaca, Wisconsin	6		Three farms swept away
June 9, 1953	Worcester, Massachusetts	94	Flint-Worcester Tornadoes	Many strong multi-level structures levelled, some houses swept away
May 1, 1954	Crowell - Vernon, Texas - Snyder, Oklahoma	0		Vehicles thrown more than 100 yards
June 16, 1957	Robecco Pavese, Valle Scuropasso, Italy	?		According to report, it was not clear if damage was F4 or F5
June 10, 1958	El Dorado, Kansas	15		Car was thrown 100 yards, damage photographs inconclusive
May 19, 1960	Wamego, Kansas	0		Two farms swept away
May 20, 1960	Nechobrz, Poland	?		Unverified report of "F4-F5" damage
May 30, 1961	Anselmo, Nebraska	0		All buildings and machinery swept away from farm
April 11, 1965	Dunlap, Indiana	36	Palm Sunday tornado outbreak of 1965	Truck stop and house leveled
April 11, 1965	Strongsville, Ohio	18	Palm Sunday tornado outbreak of 1965	Homes swept away
May 8, 1965	Primrose, Nebraska	4		90% of the town demolished
June 24, 1967	Palluel, France	6		Unverified F5 intensity rating
January 1, 1970	Bulahdelah, New South Wales	0	Bulahdelah tornado
July 31, 1987	Edmonton, Alberta	27	Edmonton Tornado	[10]
April 26, 1991	Red Rock, Oklahoma	0	Andover, Kansas Tornado Outbreak	Doppler radar used by storm chasers indicated a wind speed in the F5 range
June 8, 1995	Kellerville, Texas	0		Project VORTEX surveyed to be F5, one home was so oblitterated that NWS survey likely missed it
May 4, 2003	Girard, Kansas - Franklin, Kansas	0	May 2003 Tornado Outbreak Sequence

See also

★ Tornado intensity and damage

★ List of tornadoes and tornado outbreaks

★ List of tornadoes striking downtown areas

★ Tornado myths

References

1. 1953 Beecher Tornado
2. Grazulis, Thomas P. (2001). ''F5/F6 Tornadoes''. The Tornado Project of Environmental Films, St. Johnsbury VT.
3. http://www.crh.noaa.gov/crnews/display_story.php?wfo=ddc&storyid=7828&source=0
4. European Severe Weather Database
5. Beschreibung des Orcans, welcher den 29. Jun. 1764 einen Strich von etlichen Meilen im Stargardischen Kreise des Herzogthums Mecklenburg gewaltig verwüstet hat. (in German) Gottlob Burchard Genzmer
6. Meteorological Service of Canada
7. De cycloon van Neede (in Dutch)
8. Meteorological Service of Canada
9. Environment Canada account of the tornado with additional clips from The Windsor Star
10. http://www.eps.mcgill.ca/~courses/c186-250/Lectures/tornadoes.ppt



★ National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, National Climatic Data Center / Storm Prediction Center. ''Storm Data''.

External links

★ F5 Tornadoes in the U.S. since 1950 (SPC/NOAA)

★ Lists all F4 and F5 tornadoes up to June 1999

★ Tornado History Project F5 tornadoes since 1950 overlaid on a Google Map

★ The Tornado Project

★ Climatological Risk of Strong and Violent Tornadoes in the United States (Paper 9.4, Second Conference on Environmental Applications)

★ Severe Thunderstorm and Tornado Climatology (NSSL)

★ Fujita Scale

Canadian Sources

★ Extreme Weather at the CBC.ca Archives

★ Environment Canada's information page on Tornadoes

★ Canadian Atlas of strong tornadoes

★ List of strong tornadoes from 1879 to present