AtticaFanatica

Also, I'd suggest reading Wurman et al. (2007), in which the authors use realistic models of violent tornadoes and previous fatality information to estimate worse case scenarios in populated areas. It's a reasonable attempt at an admittedly complex hypothetical scenario, but it shows just how bad tornadoes in urban areas potentially could be. It's just not a pretty situation. http://journals.ametsoc.org/doi/pdf/10.1175/BAMS-88-1-31

You can engage me directly, it's simpler, I don't bite. Obviously, there are things that can be improved upon in relaying information. However, given the state of that information, current implemented radar technology, where the tornado formed, how strong it was, and where it struck, I don't believe there are many more lives that could have been saved. I realize this will never be a popular opinion because people always want someone to blame. In this case, the drive to do so is not surprising, but the evidence used to do so is inadequate.

The inability for humans to accept that, sometimes, life sucks and **** happens is at play more in this case than any other I can remember.

For what?

I think we all get what he meant.

Yes.

I agree with you but there are probably better and more effective ways to state your cause than minimizing others.

In most M.S. programs, you're given a tuition waiver and a stipend, so it shouldn't further your student debt.

Yes, width information is kept in Storm Data, for example. However, as with wind speed estimations, I think the error bars on the width estimations likely preclude deriving anything of value from them on an individual basis.

It's pretty much impossible to gauge how wide individual tornadoes are using just visual and damage indicators. I wouldn't put much, if any, weight to declarations of this or that tornado being the widest.

Well yeah.

Exactly

If there's no structure/DI deemed strong enough to withstand winds >210 mph, then that's all they can estimate. It's an inherent limitation to the rating process and why the wind estimates, particularly in EF-5 tornadoes, tell one very little.

Not with an accuracy level I'd feel comfortable with, no.

EF scale ratings have error bars large enough, let alone any actual wind value estimates. I would have little to no confidence in the validity of a comparison between two tornadoes based on the wind estimates that result from a damage-based tornado survey.