Hurricanes Andrew, Matthew and Irma

When will we stop using this seriously stupid Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale? It confuses everybody, even the professional weather forecaster; how many times during the reporting of Irma have we heard a forecaster correct himself? “Irma is weakening, it’s now a Cat. 4 … err … sorry shouldn’t say it’s ‘weakening’ but has dropped a few miles an hour of wind speed.”

Any hurricane with wind speeds of 74mph and above is DANGEROUS! A hurricane will get more and more dangerous as wind speeds increase. I had a friend living in Fort Lauderdale some years back who called me one morning to complain that “…. Hurricane So-and-So had taken most of the roof off and it was only(?) a Cat. 2!” I told him then that any dam’d hurricane is dangerous, and what did he expect?

May I put in a plea, therefore, with the reporting powers that be, for hurricanes to be described by their wind speed alone, then you, me and the forecaster will know exactly what is being spoken about and will know, precisely, the perceived danger.

Yours, forever hopeful,
Harry Strachan

September 9, 20