Click any rating to see the wind speed range, damage examples, and historic tornadoes at that intensity. Data comes from the NOAA Storm Prediction Center's tornado database.
The original Fujita Scale (F0–F5) was published in 1971 by Dr. Ted Fujita of the University of Chicago. It tied wind speed estimates to damage in an era before Doppler radar, so the wind ranges were rough guesses.
Meteorologists and engineers spent decades pointing out that the original scale over-estimated the winds needed to cause a given level of damage. In February 2007, the National Weather Service adopted the Enhanced Fujita Scale, which uses 28 "damage indicators" (from mobile homes to shopping malls) and calibrated wind estimates from engineering studies.
All tornadoes since February 2, 2007 are rated EF. Older tornadoes use the original F scale, but the numbering (0–5) means roughly the same thing. There is no EF6 — the scale explicitly caps at EF5.