Does wind power math show EF tornado wind speeds are overestimated?

[SeekerOfTruth007]

Okay, so the real wind power formula is proportional to the Cube of Wind Speed, because Kinetic Energy is proportional to the square of the mass of a single object, but when a fluid or air is moving past you, another order of magnitude is represented by the horizontal row of consecutive masses moving past you.

d = Density of Air

V = Velocity of winds

A = Area facing the wind for the object being moved or destroyed

Power = (1/2)*d*(V^3)*A

95mph converted to metric in Meters per second is: 42.4m/s.

Density of Air is ~1.2kg/m^3.

Power = (1/2) * 1.2kg/m^3 * ((42.4m/s)^3) * A

= 45,843 Watts per Meter Squared.

Now this is winds speed at 10 meters above ground level or 10 meters above sea level when over water. The winds at ground level are never quite that strong. Your roof top is about 5 meters above ground level, so wind is also not quite that strong there either.

What I found after some other more complicated math is that a 95mph wind gust could lift and throw a heavyweight man at ~65mph within just one SECOND of acceleration.

This means 95mph probably is all that is needed to rip a roof off most people's houses, and the EF scale is actually OVER ESTIMATING wind speed... strangely.

Updates

1 d

Correction. It would accelerate the man to 55mph in one second, not 65mph in one second.

Updates

1 d

I also have come to think Hurricanes are being over-estimated by Dropsondes, because they measure 10-second gusts, while the actually Saffir-Simpson scale is supposed to be 1-minute sustained winds. This is probably why hurricanes almost always under-perform their over-water intensity during landfall.

[OneViewpoint]

I think you're confusing raw wind speed maximums reported within a storm system with what a given person may experience on the ground at a local level. Meteorologists can't know what structural or terrain features are in your specific location that may impact the wind speed you experience at a very localized level.

Here in New England we are heavily forested and the terrain is very hilly. I live at the top of a hill with no surrounding terrain features to redirect or deflect winds. But a mile away someone could be at the bottom of a hill that blocks a substantial amount of wind. At ground level you have one speed. 1,000 feet up you have another speed. 5,000 feet up you may have a different speed. It's not some uniform homogenous movement of air mass. How else would you have meteorologists characterize wind speeds of storms if not a general label like EF 1,2,3,4,5 or category 1,2,3,4?

[SeekerOfTruth007]

For Hurricanes, I tell people to evacuate from Category 1 if they live within 5 miles of the coastline. They should evacuate from Category 2+ if they live 25 miles inland..

"Super Storm Sandy" was only a Category 1 hurricane at landfall in the mid-atlantic. It was the size of the storm that caused so much wave action and storm surge, not the wind speed.

The point I'm making here is I was actually wrong the other day, and winds above 95mph probably do not matter, because 95mph will already destroy your house.

[andreasderjuengere]

I'm a sailboater.
It makes no sense to discuss or to calculate it.
Just handle it 🫠