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EF2 tornadoes hit Upstate; So what do those letters, numbers mean?


When a tornado is confirmed by National Weather Service officials, they also assign it a strength rating. The tornadoes Monday in Spartanburg and Cherokee County were bot rated at EF2.

The letters EF stand for the Enhanced Fujita scale. It is named after Tetsuya Theodore "Ted" Fujita, who, along with Allen Pearson, originated the scale in 1971. The scale was refined in 1971 and renamed the Enhanced Fujita scale.


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Tornadoes are rated from EF0 to EF5

EF0: 65-85 mph winds, minor or no damage.

  • Will peels surface off some roofs; some damage to gutters or siding; branches broken off trees; shallow-rooted trees pushed over. Confirmed tornadoes with no reported damage (i.e., those that remain in open fields) are always rated EF0.

EF1: 86-110 mph winds, moderate damage.

  • Roofs will be severely stripped: mobile homes overturned or badly damaged, loss of exterior doors, windows and other glass broken.

EF2: 111-135 mph winds, considerable damage.


EF3: 136-165 winds, severe damage.

  • Entire stories of well-constructed houses will be destroyed; severe damage to large buildings such as shopping malls; trains overturned; trees debarked; heavy cars lifted off the ground and thrown; structures with weak foundations are badly damaged.

EF4: 166-200 mph winds, extreme damage.

  • Well-constructed and whole frame houses leveled; cars and other large objects thrown and small missiles generated.

EF5: Greater than 200 mph winds, total destruction of buildings.

  • Strong-framed, well-built houses leveled off foundations are swept away; steel-reinforced concrete structures are critically damaged; tall buildings collapse or have severe structural deformations; some cars, trucks and train cars can be thrown approximately 1 mile.

For context, the top winds of an EF2 tornado are just 5 mph less than the wind speed of Hurricane Hugo when it hit Sullivan’s Island in 1989. The tornado that hit Spartanburg County on Monday had winds that were nearly twice the speed of Tropical Storm Irma when it blew through South Carolina.