Hurricanes are getting so strong in a warming world that a Category 6 intensity should be added to the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind scale, a new study finds.
Why it matters: The research shows how significantly climate change is altering storm intensity and other characteristics, as well as further underscoring the limitations of the scale.
Reality check: The paper, published Monday in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, does not represent an official move by the National Hurricane Center to add another hurricane category.
I don’t think adding a category 6 would change anything. I live in New Orleans and the point of the categories is to let the public know the risk and what to do. There’s really not much difference between a direct hit from a category 4 and a 5 now. A category 1 means hunker down. Category 2 means vulnerable areas need to evacuate. Category 3+ (usually) means mandatory evacuation. Category 4 and 5 typically just mean expect the worst.
I’d really rather we replace the Saffir-Simpson scale with something that takes things beyond wind into consideration. Look at Katrina. It was a category 5 at sea (so cat 5 storm surge) but was category 3 at landfall. But it also was organized and covered like half the Gulf of Mexico.
Other storms can be very compact and fast moving and yeah, wind damage is bad but there’s way more to a hurricane than wind. Harvey sat over Houston for days and caused insane flooding.
There’s also danger in new places getting hit. Superstorm Sandy was equivalent to a category 1 by wind speed when it hit NYC. It wouldn’t have been a big deal in a place where the trees evolved to survive hurricanes and there’s no underground infrastructure to flood but it was a massive deal for NYC.