Currently, forecasters at the National Hurricane Center in Miami use the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale to measure a storm’s strength. But what about storm surge and rainfall threats?

A USF researcher says wind speed is just one of the dangers associated with a hurricane noting that wind is responsible for 8% of hurricane-related fatalities, while storm surge accounts for 49% and rainfall 27%.

University of South Florida geosciences professor Jennifer Collins is proposing replacing the SSHWS with the Tropical Cyclone Severity Scale, (TCSS) which incorporates storm surge and rainfall in addition to wind.

“Frequently, people use the storm’s category to decide whether to evacuate,” Collins said. “That’s incredibly dangerous because if they hear it’s only a tropical storm or Category 1, too often no alarm bells go off, and they see no cause for concern.”

Wind, rain and storm surge are each given a number from 1 to 5 based on predicted severity, but the final combined number can reach as high as 6. Simply, if storm surge is a 4 but wind and rainfall are 5, the hurricane is classified as a Category 6.

The TCSS will list the hazard-specific categories, as well as an overall category so the public can discern the real dangers.

“Based on our research, we now know that people are more likely to evacuate if they understand the dangers from rainfall and storm surge in addition to wind.” explains Collins.

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