Don’t Pay Attention to the Hurricane Category
On Wednesday, Hurricane Florence weakened to a Category 3 storm, and then again to a Category 2. Simultaneously, meteorologists warned that Florence looked even more dangerous than it did before.
How can a storm weaken and also look more life-threatening?
The answer lies in the “hurricane category” system, and how it can distort the most important information about a tropical cyclone.
As a storm bears down on the coast, just about everyone—except, perhaps, veteran meteorologists—tends to fixate on its category. Most people know that the bigger the category, the scarier and more notable a storm.
That rule of thumb has the benefit of to strike the East Coast north of Florida. Only 33 Category 5 storms in the Atlantic Ocean, and as President Donald Trump last year: “I never even knew a Category 5 existed.”
