On October 25, 2019, Dr. Athena Masson gave an invited talk entitled, “Size Matters. Why We Should Be Adding a Size Component to a Hurricane Scale“, at the University of South Florida.
Here is the description of her talk:
1973 marked the first introduction of the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale to the general public. Since this time the scale has undergone minor changes and kept three components: wind, storm surge, and barometric pressure. However, it has failed to look at the size of a system and how this particular component can determine the severity of a system and the type of hazards that a hurricane will produce. The size of a hurricane can help meteorologists and public safety officers communicate the threats of a hurricane in more detail. A larger hurricane will not only impact a larger area but also generate higher amounts of precipitation and possibly more storm surge. However, a small hurricane will generally be a wind storm with less concern of flooding. Rigorously measuring the size of a hurricane will help give a better understanding of the true power of these storms. All hurricanes are not created equally and they certainly do not all look the same. Determining the true size of a system will help meteorologists and emergency managers relay information about which areas will experience higher rain amounts, longer duration, and higher wind speeds, to name a few threats.
