EF-Scale Training

Welcome to the site of the EF-scale course. By February 01, 2007, the NWS will be rating tornadoes using the EF-scale. It is considerably more complicated than the F-scale and it will allow surveyors to create more precise assessments of tornado severity. Because of the complexity of the scale, we are rolling out a short course on the EF-scale starting November 1, 2006. Any NWS employee to participate in surveys using the EF-scale should take two lessons available on the LMS and linked below. The first lesson describes how the EF-scale was designed while the second lesson takes you through cases where you get to make the call. In order to complete each lesson, take the quiz and a short survey.

Accompanying the lessons, we will provide you a Windows XP-based program called the EFkit. It is a tool to help you become more familiar with the EF-scale as you take the lessons and as you conduct a real survey. We also are providing the WCMs and other interested NWS employees a forum to help share ideas in damage surveying, the EF-Scale and other issues related to WCM activities. The forum is an interface with each other and the developers of the EF-scale.

Training resources

1. Lesson 1: Introducing the Enhanced Fujita Scale - online
• downloadable version - 13mb zipped file
• raw PowerPoint - 2 mb
2. Lesson 2 Damage Surveys with the Enhanced Fujita Scale - online
• downloadable version - 79 mb zipped file
• raw PowerPoint - 71 mb
3. The EFkit: A PC-based tool kit, version 1.1 - 9 mb zipped file *
• *Note: On November 13, 2006, EFkit has been updated to version 1.1 with vastly improved memory handling
4. The OCWWS WCMboard - operational

WCM orientation resources

1. EF-Scale orientation PowerPoint (8mb)
2. Setting Up WCM Bulletin Board RSS feed in Thunderbird (300k pdf) - Jobsheet

Additional resources

1. The EF-scale page at SPC - http://www.spc.noaa.gov/efscale/
2. The EF-scale report by McDonald and Mehta: http://www.wind.ttu.edu/EFScale.pdf
3. The Guide to F-Scale Damage Assessment: http://meted.ucar.edu/resource/wcm/ftp/FinalNWSF-scaleAssessmentGuide.pdf
4. The WCM resource center at UCAR: http://meted.ucar.edu/resource/wcm/

Acknowledgements:

WDTB thanks the following for helping to develop the EF-Scale training:

1. Steve Kuhl, MIC, NWS, Quad Cities, IA/IL
2. Brian Smith, WCM, NWS, Valley, NE
3. Dan McCarthy, WCM, NWS/SPC
4. Kishor Mehta, Paul Whitfield Horn Professor, Texas Tech University
5. Jim McDonald, Professor emeritus, Texas Tech University
6. Greg Stumpf, NWS/MDL
7. Tim Marshall, HAAG Engineering
8. Michael Smith, NWS/OCWWS
9. Chris Maier, National WCM for the NWS
10. Don Burgess, OU/CIMMS
11. External Reviewers: Tom Matheson (WCM - NWS MTR), Rick Smith (WCM - NWS OUN), Gary Woodall (WCM - NWS FTW), Steve Amburn (SOO - NWS TUL)