Tetsuya Fujita; Meteorologist Studied Tornadoes

Meteorologist Tetsuya Fujita, who devised the scale used to measure the fury of tornadoes and discovered the deadly microburst phenomenon in thunderstorms, has died, the University of Chicago said Friday.

Fujita, 78, had been in ill health for two years and died Thursday at his Chicago home, said the university, where he worked for more than three decades.

The meteorologist traveled the United States examining the aftermath of tornadoes, devising a six-point scale to measure their strength. An F-0 tornado has winds of 40 to 72 mph, while an F-5, the most powerful, can cause massive destruction with winds from 261 to 319 mph.

In 1976, Fujita discovered the microburst phenomenon--powerful blasts of air that descend rapidly and spread in all directions when they reach the ground. Microbursts are a particularly deadly form of wind shear and have been shown to cause aircraft accidents.

“His investigation of the Eastern Airlines Flight 66 aircraft accident in 1975 at New York’s JFK Airport led him to discover the killer winds he called microbursts,” said James Partacz, a meteorologist at the university’s Wind Research Laboratory.

“This important discovery helped prevent microburst accidents that previously had killed more than 500 airline passengers at major U.S. airports,” he added.

A native of Kitakyushu City, Japan, who later became a U.S. citizen, Fujita received the Order of the Sacred Treasure, Gold and Silver Star from the Japanese government in 1991.