VERIFY QUESTION

This weather Wednesday, the Carolinas brace for impact from Hurricane Florence.

Viewer D.I. Whitfield wrote, "Is there any historical data for hurricanes where the speed has entered the speed of a stronger tornado?"

VERIFY SOURCE

Good Morning Show meteorologist Eric Chilton verifies.

VERIFY PROCESS

Chilton used an analogy of an ice skater. A single figure skater can spin a lot faster than a line of figure skaters holding hands. The single figure skater is the tornado, and the group of skaters is the hurricane.

In comparing a tornado's Enhanced Fujita scale to the hurricane's Saffir-Simpson scale, tornadoes have much faster wind circulation speeds than hurricanes. A low-grade EF-0 tornado has three-second gust speeds of 65 to 85 miles per hour. EF-5s have three-second gusts of more than 200 miles per hour. Compare those to hurricanes. They range from low-grade category ones, with sustained winds of 74 to 95 miles per hour, to category fives, which has sustained winds 157 miles per hour or more.

The hurricane with the fastest wind speed on record was Hurricane Allen in 1980.

VERIFY CONCLUSION

In conclusion, tornadoes generally spin much faster than hurricanes, but, yes, there are some strong hurricanes with rotational winds that can reach tornado wind speeds.