DELAYED TWICE DUE TO BAD WEATHER CONDITIONS. HURRICANE SEASON WERE STILL MONTHS AWAY, DON’T WORRY, BUT A NEW STUDY IS SUGGESTING EXPANDING THE SCALE THAT MEASURES A HURRICANE’S INTENSITY. WE’D LIKE TO BRING IN METEOROLOGIST DYLAN BUTLER FOR MORE ON THIS CONVERSATION. DYLAN, WHY DO RESEARCHERS SAY A CATEGORY SIX SHOULD BE CREATED? THAT’S RIGHT. THAT’S WHAT THEY’RE SAYING THIS MORNING. AND WE KNOW THAT CLIMATE CHANGE IS WARMING OUR OCEAN WATERS AND STUDIES SHOW THAT IN RECENT YEARS, HURRICANES HAVE BEEN GETTING STRONGER AND MORE FREQUENT. SO SOME CLIENTS, SCIENTISTS SAY THAT THE CURRENT FIVE CATEGORY SCALE FIRST DEVELOPED IN THE 1970S, MAY NO LONGER BE ADEQUATE TO SHOW THE TRUE POWER OF THE STRONGEST STORMS. AND THAT’S WHY A NEW STUDY PUBLISHED EARLIER THIS WEEK PROPOSES ADDING A NEW CATEGORY TO THE SCALE. THIS IS OUR CURRENT HURRICANE SCALE LOOKS VERY FAMILIAR TO YOU OBVIOUSLY ARE FAMILIAR WITH CATEGORY ONE THROUGH FIVE HURRICANES. WE CALL THIS THE SAFFIR-SIMPSON WIND SCALE. FIRST DEVELOPED BACK IN THE 1970S. ANYTHING WITH WINDS WEAKER THAN 74MPH IS CONSIDERED A TROPICAL STORM, BUT 74MPH AND GREATER. THAT’S THE THAT’S THE THRESHOLD FOR A HURRICANE. SO WE HAVE CATEGORY ONE HURRICANE CATEGORY TWO WITH WINDS GREATER THAN 96. CATEGORY THREE, FOUR AND FIVE. THOSE ARE MAJOR HURRICANES. AND RIGHT NOW THE STRONGEST ARE HURRICANE CAN BE CLASSIFIED AS IS A CATEGORY FIVE WITH ONE MINUTE SUSTAINED WINDS OF GREATER THAN 157MPH. THE NEW STUDY, PUBLISHED BY TWO CLIMATE SCIENTISTS, PROPOSE ADDING A CATEGORY SIX TO THE SCALE FOR HURRICANES WITH WINDS GREATER THAN 192MPH. BUT IS THAT REALLY NECESSARY? CATEGORY FIVES ARE TRULY ALREADY RARE ENOUGH. ONLY FOUR HAVE EVER MADE LANDFALL IN THE UNITED STATES. IN FACT, THERE HAS NEVER BEEN A HURRICANE IN THE ATLANTIC OCEAN THAT WOULD MEET THE NEW CATEGORY SIX RATING. ONLY A HANDFUL OF STORMS WORLDWIDE HAVE EVER REACHED THAT STRENGTH. AND THAT’S REMEMBER, WINDS GREATER THAN 192MPH. SO WOULD ADDING A CATEGORY SIX REALLY HELP CONVEY THE POWER OF THESE INTENSE STORMS, OR WOULD IT JUST LESSEN THE APPARENT SEVERITY OF THE OTHER CATEGORIES KIND OF WATER IT DOWN AND MAKE IT SEEM LESS SIGNIFICANT TO THE PUBLIC? REMEMBER, NORTH CAROLINA KNOWS VERY WELL THAT EEN A CATEGORY ONE HURRICANE CAN CAUSE SIGNIFICANT IMPACTS. SO THE CURRENT SAFFIR-SIMPSON SCALE, I TALKED ABOUT EARLIER ONLY CLASSIFIES HURRICANE STRENGTH BASED OFF OF WIND SPEEDS. BUT WE KNOW THERE’S MUCH MORE TO A HURRICANE THAN JUST THE WIND. THERE’S STORM SURGE FLOODING, RAIN, TORNADOES, AND A BUNCH OF OTHER HAZARDS THAT COME WITH A LANDFALLING HURRICANE. SO ROUGHLY ONE HALF OF ALL US DEATHS FROM TROPICAL CYCLONES ARE DUE TO STORMS STORM SURGE. SO THE BOTTOM LINE IS THAT, YES, HURRICANES ARE GETTING STRONGER AND MORE FREQUENT BECAUSE OF CLIMATE CHANGE. WE KNOW THAT. SO REGARD LESS. YOU SHOULD ALWAYS HAVE A PLAN READY. SHOULD A STORM COME OUR WAY AND ALWAYS REMEMBER TO PAY ATTENTION TO THE IMPACTS OF A STORM, NO MATTER THE CATEGORY, RIGHT? YEAH, YEAH, IT’S SO IT’S IT’S CERTAINLY INTERESTING PERSONALLY I THINK A CATEGORY SIX ADDING THAT CATEGORY MAY DO MORE HARM THAN GOOD AS IN, YOU KNOW, NOW PEOPLE ALREADY SAY, WELL, IT’S ONLY A CATEGORY 1 OR 2. I’M NOT GOING TO EVACUATE WHEN THOSE ARE STILL DANGEROUS. YOU ADD IN THAT SIX AND NOW PEOPLE ARE SAYING IT’S ONLY A 4 OR 5. YOU KNOW, IT’S ONLY A 4 OR 5. I’M NOT GOING TO EVACUATE NOW. SO AND IN THE ATLANTIC, WE’VE NEVER HAD A STORM THAT STRONG. WE WERE WONDERING IF ANYTHING HAD GOTTEN TO KNOW. THERE’S THERE’S ONLY BEEN EIGHT STORMS IN THE ATLANTIC IN RECORDED HISTORY THAT HAVE HAD WINDS HIT 180. THIS WOULD PROPOSE A CAT. SIX WOULD START AT 192MPH. WE NEVER HAD A STORM THAT STRONG, AS DYLAN WAS SAYING. SO I GUESS THEY’RE JUST SAYING, WHAT’S THE BENEFIT? I GUESS THEY’RE SAYING WITH STRONGER STORMS POTENTIALLY HAPPENING, HAVING A NEW MINIMUM, SINCE IT WOULD IF IT WAS THAT MUCH HIGHER THAN THE NEXT ONE. BUT YOU KNOW, THE CATEGORY FIVE RATING NOW, ALSO, YOU KNOW, COVERS WITH A DAMAGE DESCRIPTION OF CATASTROPHIC. SO A CATEGORY FIVE HITS. YEAH. WHAT’S WORSE THAN A CATEGORY FIVE. YOU KNOW ONCE EVERYTHING’S GONE WHAT ELSE IS LEFT TO BE DESTROYED. THE OTHER POINT TWO IS THAT RIGHT NOW A MAJOR HURRICANE ARE CATEGORIES THREE, FOUR AND FIVE. ARE YOU REALLY GOING TO MAKE MAJOR THREE, 4 OR 5 AND SIX? YEAH. YOU’RE GOING TO HAVE TO ADD ANOTHER CATEGORY IN THERE SOMEWHERE. MAYBE THREE AND FOUR A MAJOR. AND YOU KNOW WE’LL HAVE TO WAIT AND SEE. IT IS A LOT A LOT OF THINGS FOR SURE. IT WAS AN INTERESTING STUDY DOWN FOR US. YEAH. IT WAS JUST A STUDY THAT WAS INTERESTING. YEAH. IT’S NO