Meet Mr. Tornado

Episode

05/22/2025

This Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, we spotlight Tetsuya "Ted" Fujita—aka “Mr. Tornado”

Transcript

To mark Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, we’re spotlighting Tetsuya "Ted" Fujita, whose research earned him the nickname "Mr. Tornado."

Tetsuya "Ted" Fujita 1920–⁠1998

"Mr. Tornado”

Tornadoes are violent storms, made up of rotating columns of air that extend down to the ground, and Fujita was fascinated by them.

As a researcher at the University of Chicago, he came up with the Fujita scale for measuring tornado intensity, based on the amount of damage they cause.

F0 tornados cause light damage at most—like snapped tree branches. While F5 tornadoes can lift and destroy entire buildings.

A revised version of this scale, called the Enhanced Fujita scale, is still used around the world today, helping meteorologists to compare, categorize, and better understand these destructive forces of nature.

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Meet Mr. Tornado

Teaching overview

Learning points

Tornadoes are violent storms, made up of rotating columns of air that extend down to the ground.
Tetsuya "Ted" Fujita was a meteorologist who studied tornadoes, and came up with the Fujita scale for measuring their intensity.
The Fujita scale starts at F0 tornadoes that cause light damage at most, up to F5 tornadoes that can lift and destroy whole buildings.

Curriculum keywords

tornado
meteorologist
weather

Spark a discussion

What is Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander Heritage Month?
Who was Tetsuya "Ted" Fujita?
What are tornadoes, and how are they categorized using the Fujita scale?

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Meet Mr. Tornado

Transcript

Teaching overview

Learning points

Curriculum keywords

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Spark a discussion

Classroom Resources

Video Viewing Guide

Make Your Own Science Episode

Language and Literacy Activities

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