Hurricanes are becoming significantly more intense due to climate change and require a new Category 6 classification, a new study warns.
Currently, the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale measures the maximum sustained wind speed of a hurricane.
Introduced in the 1970s by the National Hurricane Center (NHC) in the United States, it ranges from one to five, the lowest number covering winds of 74-95 mph and warning of some damage, and the highest number predicting “catastrophic” damage with winds of 74-95 mph and warning of some damage. It has a speed of 157 mph or higher.
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But a new study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences suggests a hypothetical Category 6 hurricane resulting from “record wind speeds” due to the planet's warming.
Authors Michael Weiner and James Kossin criticized the Saffir-Simpson scale for being too “open-ended” which could lead to an underestimation of risk.
Instead, the study recommends expanding Category 5 hurricane requirements to include wind speeds between 157 and 192 mph, with a new Category 6 hurricane having wind speeds greater than 192 mph.
Referring to hurricanes as intense tropical cyclones (TCs), the study said: “We are considering extending the Category 6 Saffir-Simpson hurricane wind scale to show that climate change has caused the winds of the most intense hurricanes to become substantially higher.”
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It reported that in the past decade, five storms exceeded the proposed Category 6 range, including… Hurricane Haiyan, Which struck the Philippines in 2013, bringing winds of 195 miles per hour, and Hurricane Patricia in Mexico In 2015.
“192 mph is probably faster than most Ferraris, and it's hard to even imagine,” said Weiner, a scientist at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, according to The Guardian.
“Getting caught in this type of tornado would be bad. Very bad,” added Kosin, of the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Scientists have previously warned that climate change is causing extreme weather events More frequent and severe. This includes hurricanes and storm surge – sea level rise caused by changes in wind and atmospheric pressure.
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In 2022Hannah Thomas-Peter, climate change and energy correspondent at Sky News, explained that more heat means more evaporation, which means more moisture in the clouds and therefore more intense rainfall.
An increase in ocean temperatures can also make hurricanes more powerful, as heat from the water's surface transfers energy to the storm as it heads toward land.
However, there is no clear consensus on whether global warming is currently having any measurable impact on tropical cyclones, according to the Met Office.
