dr. greg forbes has been a -- you have seen ef-5 damage before dr. forbes, is there any question in your mind that the wind speeds here don't meet the criteria of 200-plus miles an hour winds. >> a huge white tank, it must weigh many tons, i've been asking what it is, we have been told it was an oil arrangement, it flew in a half mile. that's pretty much unpress dent. as long as the national weather service finds that, that's going to get it in the ef-5 category. >> that's probably about roughly the size of a mobile home, it's large. >> it's the size of a mobile home, but it's sheet metal, it's big metal there, i would think that's going to be half-inch to maybe three-inch thick, that is really dense, really heavy, that's not going to fly through the air very easily. >> thank you dr. greg forbes, the premier expert on tornado damage. there's a tree over there that's been debarked, and a giant piece of plywood was thrown through the air and basically that tree stabbed it. you see things that just stun you, that just don't seem like they should happen.

dr. greg forbes, an expert in surveying damage. he's done hundreds of damage surveys in his long career. dr. forbes, have you ever seen anything like this before? >> no. this is the worst i have ever seen. the expanse of the damage, probably three blocks in this neighborhood. it goes on at least a mile down there. i have never seen destruction so total over such an expansive area. >> reporter: dr. forbes, is there a question in your mind since you have done this more than anybody on the talent that this tornado will not be an ef-5? >> i would give it an ef-5 rating. we have trees debarked, cars tossed long distance. structures broken into pieces, unrecognizable and tossed as debris downwind. it is a scene of utter destruction, almost beyond words. >> reporter: brian, you know, these are the types of stories we hate to come to you with. we know this is a scene that's happened before. we saw this two years ago in joplin, missouri. conjecture is something we don't like to do. at that time early on in that tornado the fatality count was

dr. greg forbes. dr. forbes, thank you for being with us tonight.nderstand nature because maybe in some part of our brain we think, our our soul, we hope we can have some impact of protecting ourselves and understanding what god's plan is, if you will. this tornado went to an ef-5. what does that tell you? is this really the peak of what a tornado can be? >> reporter: yeah. the enhanced fujita scale, ef goes from 0 to 5. 5 is the highest. that means it had wind gusts at least in one location in excess of 200 miles an hour. >> when i'm looking at it, there it is, this is frightening. it's getting wide. it's getting wider. it starts as kind of a winding snake. first a fragmented snake then a complete snake. then this winding funnel. then apparently it widens to up to two miles. what is -- that didn't touch ground, would there be any devastation? does it have to actually get to the ground visibly to cause the destruction? >> reporter: sometimes for the very narrowest of tornadoes, the funnel coming down from a cloud will remain there, but if you look d

dr. greg forbes. he's the severe weather expert. he's also a very modest man, and what he never tells you is he's responsible for the formulation of these f codes and efs. so when we say this was an ef-5 tornado, this next gentleman, dr. forbes, good to see you -- was part of the kind of formation of those categories. we always talk to you in the studio, but you always try to get out in the field as much as you can to see this expulsion of energy. this is about as much energy as nature can produce. >> it really is. and it's the worst i've permanently seen, the expanse of the damage, wide track, about three blocks wide or so with everything destroyed and then at least ten miles long with pretty much everything destroyed. the worst i've seen. >> we get questions from viewers and our weather coverage seems to increase in years past, people want to know is something up here? is this a new normal? are you noticing any trends? >> well, i think the trend really is that our metropolitan areas are getting bigger, so instead of being wee litt

dr. greg forbes, from the weather channel. dr. forbes, what about this storm.i know we're in the middle of trying to classify it, is it an ef-4, an ef-5. at this point, we know it was devastating. but we were talking about this. was there -- there's warnings that a tornado might hit. was there warnings that it was going to have this much impact? >> no, i don't think so. we're not nearly as skilled in terms of predicting how intense the tornado is going to be as we are in saying that, yes, or no, there is a tornado. now, that said, the longer this particular storm and tornado got going, the wider it became on radar, and the more intense it became on radar. so the wording went up along the way that there's a large, destructive tornado in progress. it was being seen from chasers, it was being seen from helicopters. maybe not right from the beginning, but along the way, some of the peep along the track got word that this was a very large, very destructive tornado that was heading their way. >> now, dr. forbes, the technology to track these storms, both on the groun

dr. greg forbes. kind of the question is how big is this tornado? how far did it go? what is your sense? >> my sense of the total destruction is that it's about three blocks of this subdivision, neighborhood so it's probably a quarter mile wide of total destruction. we were down a little bit on the south edge of the tornado. there houses are still inhabitable. that's probably a half a mile wide in addition and a quarter mile wide that we haven't gotten up on the north edge of the tornado. i'm thinking it probably edge ef0 probably at least a mile wide. and the real core w ef4, ef 15 a yaurter of a mile. >> to give the viewers a perspective on his expertise. he likely is the one man what's done more than any other planet. is there any question in your wind that the wind speeds here don't meet the criteria of 200 mile per hour winds. >> we have seen over the next building over a huge white tank. it must weigh many tons. we've been asking what that is. i've found the answer. it was part of an oil arpth. it flu in for a half a mile. that kind of large missile flying half

dr. greg forbes. how big is this tornado? how far did it go? what is your sense?truction is it's about three blocks of this subdivision neighborhood, so it's probably about a quarter mile wide of total destruction. we were down a little bit to the south, on the south he edge of the tornado. there, most of the houses are h habitable. so i'm thinking it probably edge ef-0 to soft edge ef-0, at least a mile wide and f4, f5, probably three-quarters of a mile. >> dr. forbes expertise is storm damage estimate. he's done more than any other person on the planet. you have seen ef-5 damage before. is there any question in your mind that the winds don't meet the criteria 200 miles per hour damage? >> i'm absolutely convinced now and we have seen over just the next building over a huge white tank. it must weigh many tons. we've been asking what that is. i found the answer. it was part of an oil arrangement. it flew in for a half mile. that kind of a large missile flying a half mile, that is pretty much unprecedented. that is -- as long as the national weather service finds t

dr. greg forbes, and trust me when i tell you our view was up close and in person. >> oh, it's right over us, but we can still see, it's in contact with the ground farther off to the northeast. >> this is a one of a kind view. absolutely amazing. we're probably about, i'd say, half a mile or less from it. very close to you. the top of the storm -- >> wow. >> -- very close to -- >> look right up there -- >> oh, yeah, the top -- the top of the tornado is less than a half mile -- from us. it's almost right overhead. >> reporter: oh, it was an amazing view. believe it or not, as that tornado dissipated, we literally turned around, and less than 300 yards from us, another tornado racing across the wheat field in kansas. that one did very little damage, as most of the tornados did yesterday. three in all, from the same individual supercell thunderstorm. we can report that they did knock down power lines, did damage one home, have to report that the okay pant occupants ma okay. an amazing view in kansas. the tornado threat ramp the up again today, and today could be one of the most violent torna

dr. greg forbes has been given a three out of ten chance, a 30% of nrns this area and that's not very low because of the legacy of this storm, it is still very potent and as you can see, extending all of the way to the lower great lakes area and even tomorrow night and another 48 hours of being vulnerable for the severe weather and we are here keeping everyone updated. >> you pointed out it was 48 hours and it was just a couple of weeks ago that we were discussing that this season had not been a volatile tornadic season and here we are, boom, boom, boom here back-to-back, deadly storm snoops it seems like the overall atmosphere is getting juicier and juicier. the upper air winds are very strong and that is very conducive to the severe weather. >> vivian, thank you very much. i know you'll keep us up-to-date and we'll keep an eye on that weather and bring you breaking news. >>> coming up, new reaction to news that the top white house lawyer learned back in april that the irs had targeted conservative groups, but did not inform the president. plus a new poll showing the president unharmed b

dr. greg forbes is out there.t maybe as high as ef-5 which is the strongest on the enhanced fujita scale. 200 to 300-mile-per-hour winds. preliminary guesses somewhere around ef-4 if not maybe even a weak ef-5. >> bill: can it be a mile wide? >> half-mile to a mile wide. damage path, damage assessment, becoming official all after the weather service does their assessment. from what i've seen from the air, pretty wide swath of damage and pretty significant damage. >> bill: how long was it on the ground? >> i believe there was about 40 minutes on the ground from when the warning was first issued to when it moved through. i think it was 40 minutes. >> bill: why is it -- we were talking about this earlier why is it the tornadoes hit the same -- seem to hit the same areas over and over and they don't hit big cities unless i'm wrong, right? >> let's put it in perspective. the first piece of it is -- let's take the globe. i've been asked this question a couple of times today. globally, you know, it is almost like a littl

dr. greg forbes who is literally the world's expert in tornado damage surveys. with us yesterday, he says no doubt in his mind this will be rated an ef-5 tornadoes with winds, that means, brian, in excess of 200 miles an hour. he says there was an oil tank about the size of a trailer on a tractor-trailer that was thrown about 1/2 mile. he says it would take an excessive wind to do that. and he said that was the one thing that keyed him in that the winds were in excess of 200 miles an hour. >> be safe, mike bettes, live for us in moore, oklahoma. >>> of course, social media is a huge part of every news story now. and the images and video that we've received and seen about the story is unbelievable. we're going to talk about social media's impact on tracking weather and show you more images when "morning joe" comes right back. [ male announcer ] ok, here's the way the system works. let's say you pay your guy around 2% to manage your money. that's not much you think. except it's 2% every year. does that make a difference? search "cost of financial advisors" ouch. o