The Original Weather Blog
The
University of Oklahoma's mobile "RexPol" radar was used to determine
the maximum wind speed in the El Reno tornado on Friday. Winds of 296
mph were measured from the East/Northeast of the tornado (radar
position) looking toward the West/Southwest.
To date, the
highest tornado wind speed recorded by a mobile radar is 301 mph,
associated with the Moore, OK tornado in May of 1999. So, El Reno is
not a "record" in that respect, but an extremely violent tornado none
the less (and at 2.6 miles wide, was truly a monster at one point).
This is an interesting situation, because based on damage alone, the
highest intensity rating you could assign would be high-end EF-3 to
perhaps low end EF-4. If it weren't for this mobile doppler
measurement, this tornado would never have been rated EF-5 because it
did not hit anything while at that intensity in which the damage to be
gauged.
Kinds of puts us on an un-level playing field when
looking at historical tornado data, IMO. How many other EF-3/EF-4s
would have been rated EF-5 if we had exact wind measurements from mobile
radars? I think we'd all be surprised by the answer...
To date, the highest tornado wind speed recorded by a mobile radar is 301 mph, associated with the Moore, OK tornado in May of 1999. So, El Reno is not a "record" in that respect, but an extremely violent tornado none the less (and at 2.6 miles wide, was truly a monster at one point).
This is an interesting situation, because based on damage alone, the highest intensity rating you could assign would be high-end EF-3 to perhaps low end EF-4. If it weren't for this mobile doppler measurement, this tornado would never have been rated EF-5 because it did not hit anything while at that intensity in which the damage to be gauged.
Kinds of puts us on an un-level playing field when looking at historical tornado data, IMO. How many other EF-3/EF-4s would have been rated EF-5 if we had exact wind measurements from mobile radars? I think we'd all be surprised by the answer...
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