Hurricane categories to drop storm surges, flooding

The National Hurricane Center is no longer including storm surges and flooding in its hurricane categories out of concern that people aren't heeding proper warnings, because the surges haven't always matched the levels predicted in each category.

When Hurricane Ike slammed into the Texas coast last year with Category 2 winds (96-110 mph), it had a storm surge of 15 to 20 feet. That's a level more in line with the scale's description of a Category 5 storm, which has winds greater than 155 mph. A Category 2 hurricane, the Saffir-Simpson scale said, was likely to bring a storm surge of only 6 to 8 feet.

Ike was the third most destructive storm ever to make landfall in the United States. It was responsible for at least nine deaths, eight of which were in Texas.

Source

Ohh...so let's not warn people anymore of the potential storm surge, just cause we don't listen. So I guess that means the less we know, the more prepared we will be? That's some good logic don't you think?

I dunno, I can understand the concept that they might not be able to predict the surge of a Category 2 Hurricane properly so that people don't heed the warnings, however, that's kind of like saying it's going to rain really hard, but were not sure how much.

Thoughts?

~Keeper

Edit To Add Source

[edit on 5/16/2009 by tothetenthpower]

reply to post by tothetenthpower

This has nothing to do with warnings. It is talking about not linking hurricane categorization to storm surge prediction. In other words it will longer be assumed that a Category 2 hurricane will have have a storm surge of only 6 to 8 feet.

The new system is more accurate. People will be warned about storm surges and flooding independent of the hurricane Category.

Storm surges and flooding information will continue to be included in National Weather Service advisories.

edition.cnn.com...

You may want to refer to the source:
www.nhc.noaa.gov...

[edit on 5/16/2009 by Phage]

reply to post by Phage


Huh, ok, thanks Phage. I must have mis-interpreted the article a little bit.

I guess that would make more sense, aslong as they aren't just removing them from the equation entirely.

~Keeper

Waay too many factors affect the storm surge rate of any specific category level for me to think they could ever really be that accurate.
Sounds like a smart move to me.
Maybe if they had sensor packs floating all throughout the storm and for miles around it's perimeter, but even then, you'd also need measurements above and below the storm and some burly computer simulations going on.
If anything, this is a warning in it's own right as well as an informative bulletin letting the public know that even a cat 2 could produce larger than expected surges and flooding.
Stay on your toes, peeps.