Fujita Scale trivia
Fujita Scale Mini Quiz
Test your knowledge with these top questions!
Meteorologists assign an extreme EF5 rating on the Enhanced Fujita scale when a storm does what?
Tearing off roofs or snapping trees indicates lower EF ratings, but an EF5 produces winds over 200 mph that can completely wipe a well-built house off its foundation.
Meteorologists use the Enhanced Fujita scale to evaluate tornadoes primarily by examining what?
Since measuring actual wind speeds during a tornado often destroys the instruments, surveyors must estimate the storm's intensity by analyzing the damage it left behind.
Characters in the 1996 movie Twister refer to the maximum F5 tornado rating using what awe-inspiring nickname?
In the film, storm chaser Dusty uses this dramatic phrase to describe an F5 because such rare, catastrophic power to wipe a landscape clean seems almost supernatural.
Weather expert Ted Fujita created the Fujita scale and discovered what dangerous aviation hazard?
A microburst is a sudden, powerful downdraft of wind that can cause planes to lose altitude rapidly, which Fujita discovered after investigating a 1975 crash.
Meteorologists use the Fujita scale to rate a tornado by evaluating what specific factor?
Because measuring wind speeds inside a vortex is difficult, the scale uses damage to 28 specific indicators, like trees and buildings, to estimate velocity.
The Fujita scale requires weather experts to wait for what event before rating a tornado?
Ratings are determined by ground surveys conducted after the storm, as the physical evidence of destruction is the primary data source for the scale.
The Fujita scale labels violent tornadoes as "F5" when they perform what extreme action?
F5 damage is characterized by strong frame houses being lifted off their foundations and carried considerable distances before being disintegrated.
The modern Enhanced Fujita scale improved the original tornado rating system by adding what variable?
The EF scale accounts for the fact that a well-built brick house requires higher wind speeds to destroy than a flimsy wooden shed.