Comment on The Problem With Hurricane Storm Categories

The Problem With Hurricane Storm Categories

North Carolina residents might be excused for breathing a premature sigh of relief when Hurricane Florence, once a Category 4 storm, was downgraded to Category 1 before making landfall. But those numbers don’t tell the whole story–and what they leave out can have life-and-death consequences. “Florence is an excellent example of a storm that is a lower category than it was and yet is still extremely dangerous,” Bill Lapenta, director of the National Centers for Environmental Prediction at the National Weather Service, tells TIME. Florence especially highlighted one key shortfall of the system known as the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale: while it measures a hurricane’s wind speed, it doesn’t take into account the speed at which the storm itself is moving.

 

Comment On This Story

Welcome to Wopular!

Welcome to Wopular

Wopular is an online newspaper rack, giving you a summary view of the top headlines from the top news sites.

Senh Duong (Founder)
Wopular, MWB, RottenTomatoes

Subscribe to Wopular's RSS Fan Wopular on Facebook Follow Wopular on Twitter Follow Wopular on Google Plus

MoviesWithButter : Our Sister Site

More News