Okla. tornado was an EF-5, with 200 mph winds

Doyle Rice | USA TODAY

Show Caption Hide Caption How tornadoes form WXIA's Chesley McNeil explains how tornadoes form and what the Enhanced Fujita scale means.

The National Weather Service reports that the tornado that hit Moore, Okla., on Monday was a very rare EF-5 tornado.

EF-5 tornadoes have wind speeds of at least 200 mph; EF-5 is the highest category on the Enhanced Fujita Scale of Tornado Intensity.

On average, over 1,000 tornadoes hit the U.S. each year, and only one might be an EF-5, according to data from the National Climatic Data Center.

Since the early 1950s, only 59 EF-5 tornadoes have hit the USA, according to the Tornado History Project. Moore, Okla., has been hit by two of those 59.

According to the weather service, "the damage survey teams have also determined that the tornado began 4.4 miles west of Newcastle and ended 4.8 miles east of Moore, yielding an approximate tornado path length of 17 miles. The preliminary maximum damage path width is 1.3 miles."