Deadly Greensburg KS Wedge Tornado Rated EF-5
Posted by Jeff Gammons on 06 May 2007 at 11:49 pm
Tagged as: Current Severe WX, Current National
We learned on Sunday after the National Weather Service completed their damage survey of the Violent Wedge Tornado that wiped out the town of Greensburg, Kansas, that it was giving the top EF-scale of EF-5 with winds over 205mph. The derived EF scale rating of 5 means that a 3 Second Wind Gust (mph) was estimated to range from 200-234. This was no surprise to many that know tornado damage and all the video scenes on TV the last 48 hours. The damage width was 1.7 miles wide. That’s almost a 2 mile wide wedge tornado that went right through the town of Greensburg, KS on May 4, 2007. The tornado was on the ground for 22 miles.
The Greensburg, Kansas Deadly Tornado is the first EF - “5″ rating (Fujita or Enhanced Fujita Scale) since the May 3, 1999 Moore, Oklahoma Tornado. This is nearly over 8 years between EF-5s tornado records. Nine people were killed during the storm and this number could be much higher if there were no warnings just before the tornado tracked into town. A tornado of this size and with winds over 200mph, it’s hard not to have people killed even when in storm shelters. The video and pictures of the tornado are a sober reminder of how intense and the size of the tornado was as it entered the town.
You can look for my other posts covering Greensburg, Kansas Tornado Chaser reports with Video of Greensburg, tornado pictures and radar data. Please see related post below.
Related Posts Covering the Greensburg Tornado:
Tornado Outbreaks May 4-5, 2007 Chaser Video & Photos
Greensburg Kansas Hit Hard By Wedge Tornado
Protection Kansas Tornado Photos
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My understanding is that tornado sirens were going 25 minutes before the town was hit from eyewitness accounts I have read. I do not have a link but I think that the diligence of those on watch during these storms saved countless lives. JMO
I agree Ggoose.