Who developed the Fujita scale for rating tornado damage?

Ted Fujita developed the Fujita scale for rating tornado damage.

Japanese-American meteorologist Tetsuya Theodore Fujita introduced the scale in 1971. It estimated a tornado’s wind speed from the damage observed after the event, assigning ratings from F0 for light damage through F5 for incredible damage. The system became widely used in the United States and helped researchers compare tornado intensity across different events.

The Fujita scale did not directly measure wind inside a tornado. Instead, investigators examined damaged buildings, trees, vehicles, and other structures, then inferred a likely wind-speed range. Because construction quality varies, the same wind can cause different levels of damage.

The Enhanced Fujita scale replaced the original scale in the United States in 2007. It uses more detailed damage indicators and accounts for construction quality, but it retains the familiar EF0-to-EF5 structure. Canada and some other countries use related systems or their own national approaches.