National Hurricane Center Wants to Change Hurricane Scale
Wednesday, July 20, 2011
By: Nicole Creston

July 21, 2011 | WMFE - The National Hurricane Center is looking to adjust its scale measuring hurricane strength. The potential changes come at what's traditionally the busiest time of the hurricane season.

The measurement system is familiar to many long-time Florida residents – it’s called the Saffir-Simpson scale, and it sorts hurricanes into a category between one and five according to wind speed. Five is the strongest.

The changes would affect categories three through five. The National Hurricane Center says the slight adjustments – in each case a one mile per hour shift – will make conversions easier to other forms of measurement.

The range for a Category Three would become 111 to 129 miles per hour, expanded from 111 to 130. A Category Four is between 131 and 155 miles per hour, and that range would increase to 130 to 156 miles per hour. A Category Five is now 156 miles per hour or higher, and it would change to 157 miles per hour or higher.

The agency wants public feedback – it’s soliciting comments on its website.