Do you think Rita will create the need to make a CATEGORY 6?

[dhinojosa]

Poll question: Do you think Rita will create the need to make a CATEGORY 6?

According to the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saffir-Simpson_Hurricane_Scale) if a hurricane is less than 920 millibars then it is a hurricane 5. I would like say, given the series of other hurricane values, that anything less than 890 mb is a hurricane category 6. Right now, Rita is at 898 mb, and it just beginning.

So given all this... do you think it is time to create a Category 6?

On edit: grammar

[msongs]

1. only if they find dorothy and the witch on a bicylce in the eye nt

[Ilsa]

2. Gilbert got down to 888, IIRC.

I think a Cat 6 is reasonable.

[MojoXN]

3. What would be the new deliniation, in your opinion?

Winds of 225+? 200+? Or something else entirely? Rainfall per hour perhaps? Atmospheric pressure? Clue me in here...

MojoN

[Ilsa]

7. I have no idea where it should be delineated.

I only know what that lowest recorded pressure was. Speed? Pressure? I dunno.

[rurallib]

4. Someone had a suggestion here for a new rating system

that would take into account several factors beside just wind speed. Made a lot of sense. I can't remember but it was something like wind speed, surge potential, forward speed (how long it would dump rain in a spot and rain amounts expected. I think each would be rated on a 1 - 5 scale and averaged. Rita would probably still be a 5 on that scale.

[RoyGBiv]

5. Why?

The point of the scale is to gage potential damage and warn of the need to enact disaster responses at various levels in those areas in the path of the storm. Any storm generating sustained wind speeds greater than 155mph, and all that goes with that, is going to cause massive damage and should generate the highest level of response. All creating another category, using the Saffir-Simpson methodology, will do is create the impression of the downgraded importance of a Cat 5, somewhat like what we have now with Cat 4 storms, only with the potential for more tragic consequences.

In short, we don't need a scale that suggests anything less than total mobilization once a storm reaches a certain level of intensity. If a storm gets this bad, the government should mobilize fully to respond and people who can should get or be taken out immediately.

That said, I wouldn't mind using a different scale that also takes into account the potential storm surge, rainfall per hour, etc. in order to refine response scenarios. That scale would cause storms to vary in their relative intensity based on things like direction and speed of travel, at what angle it will hit land, what time it will hit, etc. The problem with that, though, is that you reduce your response window.

[likesmountains 52]

6. I memorized roygbiv as a kid...do you think many others did?

[nashville_brook]

8. given that CAT-5 is 155mph winds and each category adds 20mph

we're at 175mph winds now, so essentially we are CAT-6 according to wind.

if from this moment on, it just dies down, then no need for CAT-6.

[nashville_brook]

9. 186mph winds according to Dr. Jeff Master's at wunderground eom

[Robertwf]

10. Typhoon comparison

I just checked the scale for typhoons. Category 5 is 156-194 sustained winds with peak gusts of 198-246 mph. Batten down the hatches!

[Mugsy]

11. Damn close, but it wouldn't hold together.

If you figure a 4 starts at 131mph. 5 starts at 155. A 6 would have to start around 180mph. But I doubt it could hold much beyond that for very long.

You really only need a Cat-6 if you exceed the old Cat so badly that the old one just no longer makes sense.

It may be coming down the pike, but Rita won't be the one to prompt it.