Hurricanes are getting stronger and more dangerous: meteorologists warn about 6 category

At the moment, hurricanes of the fifth category are the most powerful of the possible Saffir-Simpson scale used in the United States.

Фото: Depositphotos

But experts warn that the strength and destructiveness of storms forming in the Atlantic may soon lead to the need to introduce the 6-th power category, writes The New York Post.

Previously, meteorologists did not expect that it would be necessary to have a hurricane strength category higher than the fifth, at which the wind speed in a storm is from 157 miles (253 km) per hour or more. But scientists believe that warmer ocean waters and an increase in the amount of moisture in the atmosphere can lead to the formation of super-aragans of the sixth category.

Current hurricane categories on the Saffir-Simpson scale
Infographics: Wikipedia

At the moment, the atmosphere is circulating on the 5-8 percent of the water vapor more than it was 30 years ago. This water vapor, combined with higher air temperatures and warmer ocean waters, creates the potential for storms to form at wind speeds exceeding 200 miles (322 km) per hour.

American meteorologist Jeff Masters, a former “hurricane hunter,” first spoke about the possibility of forming these storms unseen before in 2016.

“The Black Swan hurricane—a storm so extreme and completely unprecedented that no one could have expected it—struck the Lesser Antilles in October 1780,” Masters wrote.

“It received the name it deserved - the Great Hurricane of 1780: no Atlantic hurricane in history equaled its death toll - 22 people. The winds of the Great Hurricane were so strong that they tore bark from trees, something that only an EF000 tornado with wind speeds of more than 5 miles per hour has also done in history,” the scientist explained.

According to him, it is not only possible, but there is almost no doubt that a warmer climate will lead to the formation of very strong storms that can pluck the bark from the trees.

Masters based his prediction on the research of two hurricane scientists Kerry Emanuel from MIT and Ning Lin from Princeton.

Researchers have called this new type of storm a "gray swan" - instead of a "black swan" - a term that refers to an event with very serious consequences that comes unexpectedly.

According to scientists, the greatest likelihood of such devastating hurricanes was formed in the Persian Gulf, as well as in Cairns (Australia) and in Tampa (Florida). The risk of such hurricanes in these regions has increased 14 times due to global warming.

City officials may not know what to expect when such a storm sets in. One of the urban planning documents in Tampa in the 2010 year shows that the 5 category hurricane is predicted to lead to 2000 deaths and 250 billion dollars in losses. But gray swans can have far more serious consequences, for example, they can bring storm surges with them to 17 feet (5 meters), which would leave most of the Tampa under water.

After the publication of Masters, other meteorologists also predicted the appearance of 6 storms in the near future and a change in the scale of hurricane assessments.

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