Study Calls for New Category 6 Classification as Hurricanes Grow Stronger Amid Climate Crisis
As hurricanes become increasingly powerful due to the climate crisis, scientists are urging for the expansion of the Saffir-Simpson hurricane scale to include a new category 6 designation, capable of encompassing storms with sustained winds exceeding 192mph.
Researchers, led by Michael Wehner of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and James Kossin of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, have proposed this new classification in response to the escalating intensity of hurricanes fueled by global heating.
Published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the study argues that the existing scale, developed in the 1970s, fails to adequately capture the extreme ferocity of these mega-hurricanes, which pose unprecedented threats to life and property.
While hurricanes ha...
