ABC News's Stephanie Ebbs, Kenton Gewecke, and Julia Jacobo is reporting on Category 6 hurricanes!
Amid the intensification of storms due to global warming, hurricane experts are contemplating the introduction of a Category 6 to the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale, which currently caps at Category 5 for storms with sustained winds exceeding 157 mph. This discussion, sparked by a study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, suggests a new category starting at 193 mph to better reflect the escalating strength of tropical cyclones as ocean temperatures rise. The study highlights the inadequacy of the current scale to fully communicate the risks of the most powerful storms, noting that a significant number of Category 5 storms have occurred in the last two decades, with five surpassing the proposed Category 6 threshold. This move aims to raise awareness of the growing wind-hazard risk from these extreme storms under climate change, though it faces skepticism regarding its potential to cause underestimation of lower-category storm risks and the focus on wind hazard over other storm-related dangers.
Source: ABC News
https://abcnews.go.com/International/stronger-storms-spark-debate-hurricane-experts-category-6/story?id=107022891
(This article was written with assistance from ChatGPT)
