Fujita vs Beaufort: how do you measure a storm?

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TETSUYA FUJITA vs BEAUFORT go head to head — and every jab is rooted in real history.

TETSUYA FUJITA

I measured the wind by what it destroys - the twisted rail, the flattened town - because damage never lies about a storm's true fury.

BEAUFORT

And I measured it by what the sailor sees - the whitecaps, the spray, the straining sail - so a man on deck could judge his peril with his own two eyes.

TETSUYA FUJITA

But your sea shows only the surface, Captain; my scale reads the scar the vortex leaves upon the earth, where the real violence lands.

BEAUFORT

A scar tells you only that you survived to read it - my ranking warns the mariner before the wave breaks, and prevention outranks any autopsy of the wind.

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