>>11871021Yes, a tornado's width is measured by how far its damage spreads
This 2.6 mile wide tornado received an EF3 rating... There is an intermediate circulation between a mesocyclone and a tornado called a "tornado cyclone." Often the lines between these features are blurry. When this tornado first touched down it took on a classic wedge shape, but then the bottom truncated or flattened out and the wedge transitioned to a tornado cyclone. Under the tornado cyclone if you look closer you'll see a brief smaller tornado or two touch down.. these are suction vortices. Underneath this flat truncated tornado cyclone, almost invisible winds are causing damage on a the scale of a weak tornado. Therefore, the entire area underneath the tornado cyclone is by definition a tornado. The majority of this tornado was only causing EF1 damage, however the highly powerful suction vortices packed winds well over that required to cause EF5 damage... except these most powerful winds never hit any structures to cause the damage or indicators to warrant giving this tornado an EF5. The thing to realize is that tornadoes by definition are not always condensed with clearly visible borders.
This is a quote from Pecos Hank, a storm chaser on yt
