A new proposal for hurricane ratings would top out at Category 6; and for you Parrotheads, Jimmy Buffett Day arrives
What's the secret to being the smartest person in the room--or the Zoom? Being well informed, of course. Read on ...
When hurricanes strike, it’s not just wind speed that’s so damaging. It’s also storm surge and rainfall.
But our current hurricane rating system doesn’t take those other factors into account. And some people think it should.
Among those is University of South Florida professor and hurricane researcher Jennifer Collins, who has co-authored a new study that would, among other things, change the top-rated hurricane from a Category 5 to a Category 6.
Collins, whose research paper appeared in Scientific Reports, argues that the current storm rating system—the Saffir-Simpson scale—should be replaced by a new Tropical Cyclone Severity Scale.
She notes:
Frequently, people use the storm’s category to decide whether to evacuate. That’s incredibly dangerous because if they hear it’s only a tropical storm or Category 1, too often no alarm bells go off, and they see no cause for concern.
Hurricane Katrina, which 20 years ago today slammed into New Orleans, is a good example. It was listed as a Category 3 storm based solely on wind speed, but the more than a thousand deaths and $125 billion in damage were mostly caused by storm surge.
There have been too many instances of incredible loss of life and destruction because a low category number on the (Saffir-Simpson scale) or even if it’s listed as a tropical storm, did not match the danger of the storm. Based on our research, we now know that people are more likely to evacuate if they understand the dangers from rainfall and storm surge in addition to wind.
Here’s how her proposed Tropical Cyclone Severity Scale would work, as reported in a USF publication:
Wind, rain and storm surge are each given a number from 1 to 5 based on predicted severity, but the final combined number can reach as high as 6 to communicate the additional risk from multiple extreme hazards.
If one hazard is worse than the others, the hurricane’s final category is at least that high. For example, if wind and rainfall are rated 2 but storm surge is 4, the final category is at least 4.
If two hazards are rated Category 3 or higher, the final number increases by one. So, if storm surge is 4 but wind and rainfall are 5, the hurricane is predicted as Category 6.
Collins and the other co-authors of their study plan to present their findings to the National Hurricane Center.
Kiss it goodbye
Florida could be out the $218 million it spent to convert a remote training airport in the Everglades into Alligator Alcatraz.
The prison camp may soon be empty after a federal judge reaffirmed her order to wind down operations at the detention center in southeast Collier County.
The South Florida Sun Sentinel reports that:
Shutting down the facility for the time being would cost the state $15 million to $20 million immediately, and it would cost another $15 million to $20 million to reinstall structures if Florida is allowed to reopen it, according to court filings by the state.
A record execution
Florida set a record yesterday for the number of executions carried out in a single year with Number 11.
In all of the United States, there have been a total of 28 executions so far this year—Florida far and away leading that chilling statistic.
In yesterday’s execution, a 59-year-old man was killed by lethal injection for multiple murders committed 33 years ago. There are nearly 300 inmates on death row in the state. The next execution is scheduled for Sept. 17.
It’s five o’clock somewhere
On a happier note, tomorrow is officially Jimmy Buffett Day in Florida. Have a cheeseburger in paradise in his memory.
I have more on that in my Essential News column in Florida Weekly including the origin story of the term “parrothead.” Here’s a link:
And for you early risers…
Catch the Dave Elliot Show weekdays from 6 a.m. to 9 a.m. on WGUF (98.9 FM). And on Fridays at 8:10 a.m., he and I chat about the news. This week’s topics included, among other things, Alligator Alcatraz and Jimmy Buffett Day. Next week? Who knows? Tune in to find out.
J.C. Bruce, journalist and author, is the founder of Tropic Press. He holds dual citizenship in the United States of America and his native Florida. Share this email with your friends. They will love you for it.
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