[todd8]

That's approximately the entire mid-western United States.

Of the the world's 62 strongest officially rated tornados occurring between 1950 and 2013, 59 occurred in the US. Here are the numbers, but note, some tornados crossed state lines. See [1] and [2].

Louisiana 1

South Dakota 1

North Dakota 2

Missouri 2

Michigan 2

Illinois 2

Indiana 3

Minnesota 3

Ohio 3

Tennesse 3

Kentucky 3

Wisconsin 3

Mississippi 4

Iowa 6

Texas 6

Alabama 7

Oklahoma 7

Kansas 8

It looks like there are a number of tornados that don't have "accurate" official ratings so additional states could be on the list, e.g. Arkansas, Nebraska, Massachusetts.

F3, F4, and F5 are all serious tornados, but F5 tornados are especially scary with maximum wind speeds over 260 mph and reaching 318 mph.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_F5_and_EF5_tornadoes

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tornado_Alley#/media/File:Torn...

[pixl97]

It would be interesting to know how many acres of land a strong long track tornado 'destroys' in order to compare it to a fire.

[chasd00]

iirc a rectangle of complete devastation about 3/4 to 1 mile wide by maybe 20 or so miles long is about right. Some major tornadoes last longer others do not.

one thing about tornadoes that's different than fire is sheltering in place is always your best bet except for the most extreme (EF5 guidance is be underground or attempt to get out of the way)