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Wikipedia:Rating does not determine notability

Damage from an EF5 tornado in Joplin, Missouri

The ratings of both tornadoes and tropical cyclones, on the Enhanced Fujita scale and Saffir–Simpson scales respectively, usually are a point for or against a weather event having an article. However, storm rating does not determine notability. There are F1 tornadoes with articles, and Category 5 hurricanes without articles. This essay isn't meant to make a point that a storms rating disproves notability, but that a storm's rating shouldn't be factored into assessment of an event's notability at all.

Tornadoes

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See also: Wikipedia:Notability and tornadoes § Tornadoes and rating

Ah, the F5 or EF5 "monster" tornado, the highest rating a tornado can receive on the Fujita or Enhanced Fujita scales. Every F5 tornado is notable because they have to cause a lot of destruction to earn their rating, right?

Wrong. There have been a total of nine F5 tornadoes that have caused zero fatalities.[1] That's one in around nine F5 tornadoes, and while that doesn't sound like a lot, it's a surprisingly high amount. EF5 tornadoes, however, are a little different. Every EF5 tornado has killed and injured at least one people. Note that every EF5-rated tornado does have an article: the Greensburg tornado, 2008 Parkersburg–New Hartford tornado, 2011 Philadelphia, Mississippi tornado, 2011 Hackleburg–Phil Campbell tornado, 2011 Smithville tornado, 2011 Rainsville tornado, Joplin tornado, 2011 El Reno–Piedmont tornado,[2] and 2013 Moore tornado.

Some good examples of unimpactful and non-notable F5 tornadoes:

On the contrary...

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This rope tornado has an article!

Several weak tornadoes have articles, the weakest being the 1989 Coldenham and 1978 "Whippoorwill" F1 tornadoes. Both killed at least ten people (10 and 16, respectively), and as such have articles. They are the prime selling point for the fact that tornadoes don't have to be violent to be notable.

Several EF2 tornadoes have articles, as well, including the 2009 Goshen County and 2023 Selma tornadoes, the latter of which is over 30,000 bytes in length. F2 tornadoes usually don't kill people but can move through populated areas, causing loads of damage.

Many F3 and EF3 tornadoes also have articles, including the 2020 Nashville and 2020 Jonesboro tornadoes. F3 and EF3 tornadoes tend to be high-impact, and as such are more likely to have an article. Many other EF3 tornadoes have articles, here's just a few:

F4 and EF4-rated tornadoes are usually notable due to their death count, as 941[3] out of 1,260[4] F4 or EF4-rated tornadoes have killed at least one person. In fact, the most recent EF4-rated tornado as of writing this essay has an article and killed 19 people, the deadliest in five years.

Hurricanes

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Unlike tornadoes, the category of a hurricane is based on the storm's wind speed instead of damage caused. Because of this, extremely powerful hurricanes can get off with no damage, and relatively weak hurricanes can kill hundreds. This especially applies to Category 5 (C5) hurricanes, which most of the time have articles. However, there are several powerful hurricanes without articles. Here's a list of Category 5 cyclones without articles, and why:

 
Cyclone Hina is seen in this aerial shot at an unknown intensity.

Severe Tropical Cyclone Hina (1985)

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This Category 5 "Severe Tropical Cyclone" (technically a Category 4), part of the 1984–85 South Pacific cyclone season, killed three people and doesn't have an article.

Severe Tropical Cyclone Dovi (2003)

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Part of the 2002–03 South Pacific cyclone season, this Category 5 doesn't have an article as it killed nobody.

Typhoon Halong (2019)

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Typhoon Halong, a relatively rare Category 5 "super typhoon" during the 2019 Pacific typhoon season, was the strongest recorded globally in 2019, but does not have an article. This is because a discussion found that the typhoon simply being a Category 5 doesn't make it notable. Some of the main opposing points include the fact that the typhoon has not broken any records, that there have been a lot of category 5 hurricanes in the WPAC, and that this storm was also rather short-lived with barely an impacts whatsoever.

 
Hurricane Kristy, seen here at Category 3 intensity

Hurricane Kristy (2024)

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Hurricane Kristy, a relatively unimpactful but powerful Category 5 hurricane during the 2024 Pacific hurricane season, was subject to a wide series of debates about whether Category 5 hurricanes are automatically notable. The biggest discussions, "Does being a Category 5 Pacific hurricane establish notability" and the proposed merge of Kristy's article, both came to a rough consensus that a hurricane's category doesn't establish notability. This discussion was the second I was able to find where people generally agreed that the hurricane simply being a Category 5 doesn't make it automatically-notable.

...and several more.

Weak cyclones have articles, too

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Several weak tropical storms, like the 1985 Bangladesh cyclone and Tropical Storm Thelma, have killed over 5,000 people. As such, they are considered notable, even if they are weak or only existed for a short amount of time. This, along with the above discussions, prove that ratings don't necessarily play a factor in the notability of hurricanes and other tropical events.

See also

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Notes and citations

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  1. ^ "F5 tornadoes where fatalities = 0 (1915-2007)". Tornado Archive. 2024. Retrieved August 16, 2025.
  2. ^ For those not aware, 2011 was one of the most destructive tornado years in recorded history, hence why there are so many EF5s.
  3. ^ "F4 and EF4 tornadoes where fatalities > 1 (1840-2024)". Tornado Archive. 2024. Retrieved August 16, 2025.
  4. ^ "F4 and EF4 tornadoes (1825-2024)". Tornado Archive. 2024. Retrieved August 16, 2025.
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