Hurricane Melissa was the second strongest Atlantic storm on document.
However future hurricanes might be much more intense.
So do we want a brand new top-tier, a ‘class 6’ for excessive winds?
In the intervening time, scientists classify storms by the five-level Saffir-Simpson scale. Melissa was proper on the high, a class 5.
Picture:
Broken homes in Saint Elizabeth Parish, Jamaica, after Hurricane Melissa hit the Caribbean island. Pic: Reuters
Newest updates: Aerial footage reveals scale of Jamaica destruction
So was Hurricane Katrina in 2005, which killed nearly 1,400 folks and triggered $125bn (£95bn) in injury.
To make it into the highest tier, a hurricane wants a sustained wind pace of 157 miles an hour.
However some scientists say the 50-year-old scale simply would not lower it anymore as storms get extra excessive. And we want a brand new high tier – a class 6 – for hurricanes with winds sooner than 192 miles an hour.
Would Melissa attain the bar? Not fairly. It had sustained windspeeds of 185mph.
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Sky’s Science Correspondent Thomas Moore appears into whether or not a brand new class is required to categorise hurricanes.
The strongest Atlantic storm on document, Hurricane Allen in 1980, had winds of 190mph.
So for now, a class 6 storm is simply theoretical.
However international warming is making storms extra intense, with rising sea temperatures driving the winds sooner and sooner.
Proper now, the Caribbean is 2-3 levels hotter than regular, so the destruction left behind by Melissa is local weather change writ giant.
If fossil gas emissions carry on rising, there might be stronger hurricanes, and sure, ones which might attain that bar for class 6.
