Should they reevaluate the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale after Ike?

I discussed this with one of my bosses today at work. We both agree that by most criteria, Ike is a 4, except it doesn't have enough windspeed.

 

It's just 1 mph under Cat 3. They have been saying the eye wall winds are cat 2 but the surge and wide span of winds are more comparable to a 4 or 5. So, in a rare storm like this they just need to split up the storms effects in such a manor.

 

Maybe they should add in a letter at the end to notate how large a storm is in diameter.

A = Largest
B = Large
C = Medium
D = Small

 

Wind Speed

1
2
3
4
5

Storm Surge

1
2
3
4
5

Diameter

1
2
3
4
5

In this case we have (I think) wind speed 3, storm surge 4, and diameter 5.

So you take the average of those three numbers and you have a Category 4 Hurricane.

 

Most people barely understand the scale already. I can't imagine them making any changes to a system that has been in place for many, MANY years because of one oddball storm.

 

Good point. When I was first reading it I was thinking maybe they should reevaluate the scale but one storm out of many will probably not make them think differently, although the scale that WhoMikeJames posted does seem to simplify it a bit.

 

i don't think the public is taking this as just a cat 2 storm. so i think the warnings have been heeded to take it very seriously.

 

big storm. Downtown Beaumont had 9 feet of water. Downtown houston was rocked ...and everything in between.

Don't know if they need to revisit the scale ...but this wasn't a Cat2 storm, that's for damn sure. Measuring a storm only based on wind speed is clearly misleading.

More people would have evacuated if they would call a spade a spade. This was a Cat 3-4 storm. Officials should use more datapoints to categorize storms.

 

Throw Rita out (due to post-Katrina fear), and do you guys really think fewer people evacuated than they normally do? Some people just aren't going to leave. They're are a lot of dumb people, poor people, helpless people, and stubborn people out there. The scale has nothing to do with it, people will always find a "reason" to do what they want to do.

 

That's because the wind speed is what decimates everything. At least all the hurricanes I been through the wind has always been a major factor while water damage was minimal. But that's back in the islands. Here in the states drainage is abysmal, so we see floods even in normal thunderstorms.

I guess they really should break up a storm by wind speed, surge, and diameter. For the most part the weaker hurricanes are always the ones bringing the most rain and flooding.