Eleven years ago today the world lost one of the great contributors to the science of meteorology, Dr. Tetsuya Theodore Fujita. Dr. Fujita’s tornado research would later lead to what is now known as the Enhanced Fujita Scale, or EF scale. His original scale of tornado intensity, known as the Fujita Scale, ranged from F-0 to F-12(as seen below).
Through further research based on his findings, this scale was later enhanced and implemented in February of 2007.
Dr. Fujita also studied downbursts and microbursts which eventually lead to a better understanding of how these phenomenons can cause air disasters. He studied two of the most noted airline crashes caused in and around thunderstorms, the 1975 crash of Eastern Airlines flight 66 which crashed at JFK airport killing 122 people and the 1985 crash of Delta flight 191 at Dallas-Fort Worth killing 135 people. It was shortly after Delta flight 191 the Dr. Fujita published is work on the study of microbursts and downbursts which has more than likely saved countless lives.
For more on Dr. Fujita please read the tribute from Stormtrack.org here.
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