"When Hurricane Melissa slammed into Jamaica on October 28, it showed just how devastatingly powerful a Category 5 hurricane can beand then some. It will be weeks before experts can truly assess just how badly Hurricane Melissa ravaged Jamaica and nearby islands. But scientists are already confident that climate change contributed to the storm's horrifying strength, which sent winds gusting far beyond the minimum required for a Category 5."
"The Saffir-Simpson scale breaks hurricanes into numbered categories based solely on peak sustained wind speeds. By this scale, a storm with sustained maximum winds of 74 to 95 miles per hour is a Category 1 hurricane. When a storm's winds hit 111 mph, it becomes Category 3, which also marks the official designation of a major hurricane. The most severe classification under the Saffir-Simpson scale, Category 5, marks hurricanes with sustained peak wind speeds of 157 mph or higher."
Hurricane Melissa slammed into Jamaica on October 28 with Category 5 violence, producing winds far beyond the Category 5 minimum and devastating impacts that will take weeks to fully assess. Scientists say climate change contributed to the storm's extraordinary strength, intensifying wind gusts. The Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale classifies hurricanes solely by peak sustained wind speeds, with Category 5 defined as 157 mph or higher. Last year, hurricane scientists argued that the scale's open-ended Category 5 no longer captures modern extremes and proposed a Category 6 threshold beginning at 192 miles per hour.
Read at www.scientificamerican.com
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