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Five category may not be enough to convey the power ofhurricanesthat occur in a heating worldly concern , newfangled research find .
The current scale for commune hurricane risk , the Saffir - Simpson Wind Scale , categorizes storms using malarkey speeds . The mildest category , family 1 , involve jazz speed between 74 and 95 mph ( 119 to 153 kilometer / h ) , while the strongest , family 5 , involve wind velocity of 158 mph ( 254 km / h ) or higher .
Hurricane Sam churns in the Atlantic Ocean in the fall of 2021.
Warm sea temperaturesstrengthen hurricanesbecause the storms pull wet more easily from warm oceans . This intend both more rainfall and stronger winds when storms make landfall . As ocean temperature increase and eat strong hurricanes , it may be necessary to add up a class 6 to describe tempest with breaking wind of 192 mph ( 309 km / h ) or higher , investigator said Feb. 5 in the journalPNAS .
" Our motivation is to reconsider how the open - endedness of the Saffir - Simpson Scale can lead to underreckoning of risk , and , in particular , how this underestimation becomes increasingly problematic in a warming world , " subject co - authorMichael Werner , a climate scientist at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory , said in astatement .
The scientists first seem at wind upper in hurricanes between 1980 and 2021 , chase after trends over time . They launch that five storms had winds of over 192 mph , and that all five of those storms occurred in the nine years before 2021 .
The researchers then conducted simulations to see how future warming might affect hurricanes and their Pacific Ocean iterations , typhoons . They found that the risk of a typhoon with wind over 192 mph increases by 50 % near the Philippines with 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit ( 2 level Celsius ) of warming above pre - industrial temperature . This is the temperature doorway that signatories to the 2015 Paris Agreement pledged not to cross;it ’s uncertain when the mercury will ascend that mellow .
In a world warm by 3.6 F , the risk of a storm with more than 192 miles per hour wind would also replicate in the Gulf of Mexico , the researchers find . The Philippines , Gulf of Mexico and Southeast Asia were most at endangerment of get these " Category 6 " storms .
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The Saffir - Simpson Winds Scale is also limited by its focal point on wind speeds , whereas tempest heave and flooding can be a major risk to life and place during tropical storms , hurricane and typhoons , James Kossin , a mood scientist at the University of Wisconsin , said in the statement . A Category 6 would not address that issue but might institute cognizance to the increased jeopardy from storms overall under a warming climate , he added .
" Our results are not meant to propose change to this scale , but rather to raise awareness that the malarkey - jeopardy danger from violent storm presently designated as Category 5 has increase and will proceed to increase underclimate modification , " he say .
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