Talk:Disagreements on the intensity of tornadoes

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Diaz, Arkansas

This tornado (happened two days ago) has just been rated an EF-4 with windspeeds of up to 190 miles per hour. I can imagine that this rating will be disputed due to its close proximity to the EF-5 rating. Only time will tell, however. Sojiniiii (talk) 20:27, 16 March 2025 (UTC)[reply]

"Might be" means almost nothing until someone disputes it. Departure– (talk) 20:36, 16 March 2025 (UTC)[reply]

That is true. However, there is debate for any EF-4 tornado with wind speeds at or above 190 miles per hour to have the EF-5 rating under Anthony W. Liza et. al. Sojiniiii (talk) 20:42, 16 March 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Where's the debate then? By definition there hasn't been any since the paper already came out and isn't going to retroactively add the Diaz storm. Departure– (talk) 20:45, 16 March 2025 (UTC)[reply]

@Sojiniiii: The AMS Paper did not discuss the tornado, as the paper was published before the tornado occurred. While it did say 190+ mph winds may be EF5, Wikipedia cannot add it to this list without reliable sources directly saying this tornado was possibly EF5 intensity. Amateur posts on X, Facebook, storm chasers on YouTube, Ryan Hall, Y'all, and Reed Timmer videos are not reliable sources. Only a detailed analysis in a published paper, detailed documentary/analysis video, or a subject-matter expert (which include people like Thomas P. Grazulis or other well-published authors which most likely are already in use on this article) are the only things allowed for sourcing on this page.

In this case, attempting to use the AMS paper as justification to add the tornado would be considered original research, since the paper itself does not contain information on the specific tornado. We need to wait for a detailed analysis saying the tornado's intensity or damage was stronger/weaker than it was rated. Hopefully that helps! If you have any questions, feel free to ask! The Weather Event Writer (Talk Page) 20:49, 16 March 2025 (UTC)[reply]

2021 South Moravia tornado

This page states that "This is a list of notable disagreements on the intensity of a particular tornado." However, I'm a bit confused as to why the 2021 South Moravia tornado is listed in this article. For one, there doesn't appear to be any secondary source disagreeing with the IF4 rating, and secondly, as already quoted by this article:

Here, an IF4 rating was assigned to the damage of three well-built brick structures. One of the brick structures was completely destroyed, which would warrant an IF5 rating. However, a rather weak connection between the roof and the walls was found, which prevented the damage from being assigned an IF5 rating. [...]

I'm not seeing how there's any disagreement on the tornado's rating. All the source says is that although the damage resembled one of an IF5 tornado, the weak connection between the roof and the walls prevented an IF5 damage rating, hence why it was rated as an IF4. I haven't been able to find a source that disputes this conclusion nor is there a disagreement on its rating as an IF4 tornado, hence the tornado's inclusion into this article is WP:OR. Aviationwikiflight (talk) 15:58, 29 May 2025 (UTC)[reply]