List of F5 and EF5 Tornadoes (Hitman)

I realize this is off of wikipedia. I am heavily modifying it before I lay my hands off of it.

Among the most violent known meteorological events are tornadoes. Each year, more than 2,000 tornadoes occur worldwide, with the vast majority occurring in the United States and Europe. In order to assess the intensity of these events, meteorologist Ted Fujita devised a method to estimate maximum winds within the storm based on damage caused; this became known as the Fujita scale. At the top end of the scale, which ranks from 0 to 5, are F5 tornadoes. These storms were estimated to have had winds between 260 mph and 318 mph. Following two particularly devastating tornadoes in 1997 and 1999, engineers questioned the reliability of the scale. Ultimately, a new scale was devised that took into account 28 different damage indicators; this became known as the Enhanced Fujita scale. With building designs taken more into account, winds in an EF5 tornado were estimated to be in excess of 200 mph.

In the United States, between 1950 and January 31, 2007 there were 50 tornadoes with an F5 rating, and since February 1, 2007 there has been 9 tornadoes with an EF5 rating. Since 1950, Canada has had 1 tornado rated an F5.

Additionally, the works of tornado expert Thomas P. Grazulis revealed the existence of several dozen more between 1880 and 1995. Grazulis also put into question the ratings of several currently rated F5 tornadoes. Outside the United States and Canada, seven tornadoes have been rated F5: two each in France, Germany, and Italy and one in Russia. Several other tornadoes are also documented as possibly attaining this status.

Since structures are completely destroyed in both cases, the identification and assignment of scale between an EF4 tornado and an EF5 is often very difficult.

List of events
The tornadoes on this list have been officially rated F5 by an official government source. Unless otherwise noted, the tornadoes on this list have been rated F5 by the National Weather Service (NWS), as shown in the archives of the Storm Prediction Center and National Climatic Data Center (NCDC).

Prior to 1950, assessments of F5 tornadoes are mostly based on the works of Thomas P. Grazulis. The NCDC accepted 38 of his classifications from between 1880 and 1950 as F5s. In addition to the accepted ones, he rated a further 25 during the same period. From 1950 to 1970 tornadoes were assessed retrospectively, primarily using information recorded in government databases, and newspaper photographs and descriptions. Beginning in 1971, tornadoes were rated by the NWS using on-site damage surveys.

Tornadoes in the United States as of February 1, 2007 are rated using the Enhanced Fujita Scale, which replaced the Fujita scale in order to more accurately match tornado speeds with their damage and to augment and refine damage descriptors. No earlier tornadoes will be reclassified, and no new tornadoes in the United States will be rated F5. France and Canada later adopted the EF-scale in years following.

In all, 63 tornadoes have been officially rated F5/EF5 since 1950: 59 in the United States and one each in Italy, France, Russia, and Canada. The works of Grazulis also revealed 16 more F5 tornadoes between 1950 and 1995, with four later being accepted by the NCDC. Since the implementation of the Enhanced Fujita scale on February 1, 2007, there have been nine officially rated EF5 tornadoes in the United States from May 4th, 2007-May 20th, 2013 to date, while previously fifty tornadoes were officially rated F5 on the original Fujita scale from May 11th, 1953-May 3rd, 1999.

– Officially rated F5/EF5; undisputed – Officially rated F5/EF5, but rating is disputed; event may not have been F5/EF5 – Officially rated below F5/EF5/not rated, but rating is disputed; event may have been F5/EF5 – Not officially rated, but listed by at least some sources F5/EF5