The May 3, 1999, tornado near Bridge Creek, Oklahoma, was rated F5. Tornado F-scale ratings follow the damage a storm leaves behind, not radar measurements of its wind.
ILLUSTRATION · AIThe May 3, 1999 tornado near Bridge Creek, Oklahoma, was rated F5, because tornado ratings follow damage, not wind speed.
The tornado that moved through Bridge Creek, Moore and the Oklahoma City metro area on May 3, 1999, was rated F5, the National Weather Service office in Norman, Oklahoma, says. It was the only F5 among the 58 tornadoes in the Norman forecast area that day.
Researchers with a 'Doppler on Wheels' radar announced they had measured 318-mph winds in the tornado near Bridge Creek, prompting media speculation about an F6 rating. The NWS explained that the measurement was still being reviewed scientifically, and that the rating could not be changed on that basis anyway: F-scale ratings are assigned based on the severity of the damage caused, not on wind speed.
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