
Five categories may not be enough to convey the power of hurricanes that occur in a warming world, new research finds.
The current scale for communicating hurricane risk, the Saffir-Simpson Wind Scale, categorizes storms using wind speeds. The mildest category, Category 1, involves wind speeds between 74 and 95 mph (119 to 153 km/h), while the strongest, Category 5, involves wind speeds of 158 mph (254 km/h) or higher.