My tornado outbreak scale

[Matt-hurricanewatcher]

I hope you like it,,,Just thrown some stuff together to class the outbreaks.

Tornado outbreak scale


Cat1-10 to 25 confirmed reports of tornado's...

Cat2-26 to 40 confirmed reports of tornadoes...Or 10 to 20 with more then 2 f3 tornado's/more then 3 deaths.

Cat3-(Major outbreak)41 to 70 tornado confirmed tornado's. Or 25 to 40 with 5+ f3 tornado's. 5+ long trackers over f3 with or 2 f4s and a f5 will do it.

Cat4-71-100 confirmed tornado's...Or 41 to 70 with 10+ long trackers. Or 2 f5s will do it. Or 8 f3 or above and a f4...Long trackers...

Cat5-101+ confirmed tornado's...71 to 100 with long trackers of more the 10 f3s and a f4. Or 3 f5 with 5 f3s long trackers. A killer tornado that kills more then 100 people...

Super outbreak cat6-140+ confirmed with 20 long trackers and 2 f5s.

[Matt-hurricanewatcher]

So far 13th to the 16th outbreak is at 12 confirmed tornado's=weak cat1.

April 1st to the 3rd outbreak is made a cat3...With more tornado with in 6 or so hours on the 2nd.

6th through the 8th is made a cat3 on my scale...A more drawn out event then the 1st through the 2nd.

March 9th through the 12th...Had 84 confirmed tornado's with 11 cat3 or above. With a f4. It is a mid level cat4 outbreak on my scale.

[CrazyC83]

I've thought of one, based on the number of tornadoes, strong tornadoes, violent tornadoes, F5 tornadoes and killer tornadoes:

Cat 0 - <10 tornadoes, <3 strong, 0 violent/long track, 0 killers

Cat 1 - 10-24 tornadoes, 3-5 strong, 0 violent/long track, 0-1 killers

Cat 2 - 25-49 tornadoes, 6-15 strong, 1-2 violent/long track, 2-3 killers

Cat 3 - 50-74 tornadoes, 16-25 strong, 3-5 violent/long track, 4-6 killers

Cat 4 - 75-99 tornadoes, 26-40 strong, 6-10 violent/long track, 7-10 killers

Cat 5 - 100-149 tornadoes, 41-60 strong, 11-20 violent/long track, 11-20 killers

Cat 6 - 150+ tornadoes, 61+ strong, 21+ violent/long track, 21+ killers

The official category requires at least two of the criteria to be met, otherwise it is reduced to the next lower category.

Strong = F2+
Violent = F4+
Long track = 30 miles (48 km) or greater
Killers = Any tornado that results in a fatality, no matter how many or where

[CrazyC83]

Some recent outbreaks and their ratings:

April 13-?? (so far): Overall 1, Strong 0, Violent 1, Killers 1 - Category 1

April 6-8: Overall 3, Strong 2, Violent 2, Killers 3 - Category 3 (low-end)
April 7 alone: Overall 2, Strong 2, Violent 2, Killers 3 - Category 2 (high-end)

April 2: Overall 3, Strong 2, Violent 2, Killers 3 - Category 3 (low-end)

March 9-13: Overall 4, Strong 4, Violent 4, Killers 3 - Category 4
March 12 alone: Overall 3, Strong 3, Violent 4, Killers 3 - Category 3 (high-end)

November 27-28: Overall 2, Strong 1, Violent 2, Killers 2 - Category 2

November 15: Overall 3, Strong 2, Violent 2, Killers 1 - Category 2 (high-end)

November 12: Overall 1, Strong 1, Violent 1, Killers 1 - Category 1

November 6: Overall 0, Strong 1, Violent 2, Killers 1 - Category 1 (high-end)

Violent = F4/F5 or track 30 miles (48 km) or longer

[wxmann_91]

It is very difficult to rate tornado outbreaks IMO.

How would you rate Jarrell? Would it receive a higher rating than May 29-30, 2004? So you've got the quantity vs. quality thing again. So I'll rate my tornado outbreaks with the ratio of significant tornadoes.

When I mean significant it means F3 or greater...

Cat 1 - 1 out of 20 tornadoes significant. (EXAMPLE: May 29-30, 2004, January 12, 2006)

Cat 2 - 1 out of 10 tornadoes signficant. (EXAMPLE: April 2 and 7, 2006)

Cat 3 - 1 out of 5 tornadoes significant. (EXAMPLE: Super Outbreak, Jarrell, March 12, 2006)

March 9 would be Cat 1. March 11 would be Cat 2.

[CrazyC83]

One thing to remember: the Super Outbreak likely had far more than 148 tornadoes as many weaker (mostly F0/F1) tornadoes were likely not documented with far fewer spotters and no Doppler systems like there are today.