Has There Ever Been An F6 Tornado?
Officially, no, there has never been an F6 tornado, as the highest official rating is an F5, or EF5. However, there have been tornadoes in the past that were originally rated as an F6 and then downgraded, or were debated to be powerful or damaging enough to warrant the title of F6.
What Is Meant By F6 Tornado?
An F6 tornado refers to a tornado powerful enough to be ranked ahead of F5 on the Fujita Scale, which was created by Ted Fujita to measure how destructive a tornado is. Officially, there are only 6 categories: F0 (minor), F1 (moderate), F2 (significant), F3 (Severe), F4 (devastating), and F5 (incredible), with each tier being more destructive and less common than the one before it. Fujita also referred to the possibility of an F6 tornado, which he described as ‘inconceivable’, although he did temporarily rate 2 tornadoes as an F6 originally, although he downgraded both tornadoes to F5 status.
What Would An F6 Tornado Look Like?
An F6 tornado would be absolutely devastating, even more so than an F5, which is already able to destroy a small town on its own. This includes destroying entire houses, turning even the most well-built homes into debris. There have been fewer than 70 tornadoes that have been ranked as F5 or EF5, which is its modern equivalent on the enhanced Fujita scale. That’s less than 0.1% of tornadoes ever. Only one F5 was in Canada, the 2007 Elie tornado. Given that an F5 can rip houses from the foundation and destroy said houses, an F6 would need to do even more than that. Destroying the foundation itself, destroying underground storm cellars, and similar damage would likely be needed to achieve the rating, and even then, it might not be given the title.
Each level of tornado is rarer than what is below it. With F0 accounting for almost half of tornadoes, F1 accounting for approximately one third, F2’s accounting for about 15%, F3’s accounting for about 5%, F4’s about 1%, and F5’s about 0.1%. An F6 in this case would probably make up 0.01% of tornadoes or less, even if it were made part of the official scale. There have been a handful of tornadoes that people have speculated as possibly deserving an F6 title.
Which Tornadoes Might Qualify For F6 Status?
There are a few tornadoes that were powerful enough for people to debate ranking them as a possible F6 tornado. A few of the ones most given thought to that title are below, as they are some of the strongest tornadoes ever produced. Each of them happened in what is considered part of America’s tornado alley.
The Tri-State Tornado, 1925
This is the deadliest tornado in the history of the United States, having killed 695 people in the states of Missouri, Illinois, and Indiana. This tornado lasted for almost four hours and travelled for 352 km (219 miles). Due to a lack of accurate ways to measure wind speed at the time, there is no way to determine how powerful it was, but the level of destruction is consistent with descriptions of F5 power throughout the entire pathway, destroying homes, schools, and more. Due to the vast destruction, it is often described as being capable of being ranked as a possible F6 tornado, but due to the lack of a way to measure winds at the time, and lack of video coverage, there is no way to accurately measure its true power, despite photographs of the destruction, witness descriptions, and damage seen.
Lubbock, Texas, Tornado, 1970
This tornado was originally rated as an F6 by Ted Fujita himself, but was eventually downgraded to F5, although this was when the scale was still being developed. The winds are estimated to have reached or exceeded 470 km/h (290 mph). The upper limit for an F5 on the Fujita Scale is 512 km/h (318 mph), meaning that although it came close to the wind speed needed to break the F5 limit, it didn’t quite reach it. The tornado was a multiple-vortex tornado and described by Thomas P. Grazulis as “the most detailed mapping ever done, up to that time, of the path of a single tornado.” The tornado lasted 30 minutes, travelled 13.5 kilometres (8.5 miles), killed 26 people, injured over 1500, and caused over $250 million in damages.
Xenia, Ohio, Tornado, 1974
This was the other tornado that Fujita himself originally ranked as an F6 before lowering it back down to an F5. It had slightly stronger winds than the Lubbock tornado, with winds of 491 mph (305 mph), and travelled 50 kilometres (31 miles) in 40 minutes. It killed 32 people, injured 1150 others, and caused $250 million in damages. It was part of a tornado outbreak that included a tornado that hit Ontario and killed nine people.
Brigham, Alabama Tornado, 1977
This was the most powerful tornado of the 1977 outbreak that impacted Mississippi, Alabama, and Georgia. Out of the 24 people who were killed in the outbreak, this powerful F5 killed 22 of them.
Jarrel, Texas Tornado, 1997
With how small the town of Jarrel is, and how massive this tornado was, this tornado is possibly the most well-known thing about the town. This F5 swept away over 40 homes, almost entirely. It was able to do so much damage by moving slowly (spending much time over each object destroyed), and briefly had multiple vortexes. One photo of it showed multiple funnels, giving it the appearance of having two ‘legs’ and holding a scythe. This photo was nicknamed the “dead man walking” photo and is one of the most well-known photos of a tornado of all time. It killed 27 people. Although it did only $40 million in damages, this is due to it not covering much ground and only lasting 13 minutes. It had winds of 420 km/h (261 mph), but the path of destruction is often cited as having damage beyond the F5 level.
Bridge-Creek Moore Tornado, 1999
This is often cited as a tornado that should have been rated as an F6 based on sheet numbers. It had measured wind speeds of 517 km/h (321 mph), which is in excess of the Fujita scale’s upper limit of F5, which is 512 km/h (318 mph), and is the fastest wind speed ever recorded on Earth. The tornado lasted almost an hour and a half, killing 36 people, injuring 583, and causing over $1 billion in damage.
Joplin, Missouri, Tornado, 2011
The costliest tornado of all time, at the time of this article, this tornado did $2.8 billion in damages. Damage to property was not its only devastating impact, with it having killed 158 people and injuring 1150 people. It had estimated wind speeds of (362–402 km/h) 225–250 mph.
El Reno Tornado, 2013
The El Reno tornado is one of the most well-known tornadoes for its raw power, with winds of 504 km/h (313 mph), and for being the largest tornado ever, being over 4 km (2.5 miles) wide. Despite this raw power, it was rated only an EF3 on the now-used Enhanced Fujita Scale due to the fact that it spawned in an area that was free of major structures, and as a result, did very little damage. It did, however, kill 8 people, and could have pushed for an EF5 or EF6 rating.
