Speaker 1: Welcome to brain Stuff production of iHeart Radio. Hey brain Stuff,
Speaker 1: I'm Lauren vocal Baum and today's episode is another classic
Speaker 1: from our former host, Christian Sagar. Here in the United States,
Speaker 1: hurricane season is upon us, so today I wanted to
Speaker 1: bring back a pertinent topic, how are hurricanes categorized? And
Speaker 1: what do those categories really mean? Hey brain Stuff, it's
Speaker 1: Christian Sager here. When hurricane season arrives each year on
Speaker 1: June one, phrases such as storm surge, wind speed, and
Speaker 1: eyewall suddenly become part of the summer lexicon in the
Speaker 1: United States. But probably the most important words to know
Speaker 1: about a hurricane are those that describe its power, and
Speaker 1: those include whether it's a Category one or category five.
Speaker 1: The variance between the strengths of these two storms could
Speaker 1: mean the difference between life and death. Now, meteorologists rank
Speaker 1: hurricanes from one to five based on the Saffer Simpson Scale.
Speaker 1: The scale is a yard stick that takes into account
Speaker 1: a hurricane's wind speed, storm surge, and air pressure, and
Speaker 1: the scale begins with a category one, the least powerful
Speaker 1: and dangerous hurricane, and then it moves towards its climax
Speaker 1: at category five, the most catastrophic. As the storm pushes
Speaker 1: across the ocean, it gathers speed and strength. Low air
Speaker 1: pressure forces ocean water into a huge mound near the eye,
Speaker 1: which could create a devastating storm surge. When the wall
Speaker 1: of water reaches land. The more heat and moisture hurricane consumes,
Speaker 1: the more powerful the storm becomes. That's where the Saffer
Speaker 1: Simpson scale comes in. The scale was created when Robert H.
Speaker 1: Simpson was director of the National Hurricane Center in nineteen
Speaker 1: sixty nine, during the time Hurricane Camille blew through the
Speaker 1: Caribbean and into the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico.
Speaker 1: Its winds were clocked at a hundred and ninety miles
Speaker 1: per hour or three hundred and six kilometers per hour
Speaker 1: as it struck Mississippi, and the official death poll from
Speaker 1: wind storm surge in rain was two hundred and fifty
Speaker 1: six people. In nineteen seventy one, Herbert S. Saffer was
Speaker 1: working as an engineer in Florida preparing a report for
Speaker 1: the United Nations on building codes that could withstand the
Speaker 1: onslaught of high speed winds. He eventually came up with
Speaker 1: a table that outlined the damage to buildings wind can
Speaker 1: cause at various speeds. He worked up five categories of
Speaker 1: hurricanes based on damage each one could cause. In nineteen
Speaker 1: seventy two, Simpson took Saffer's numbers and correlated them with
Speaker 1: storm surge estimates and barometric pressure. The result was the
Speaker 1: Saffer Simpson Scale. By nineteen seventy five, the Saffer Simpson
Speaker 1: scale was in widespread use. Local, state, and federal officials,
Speaker 1: not to mention, the public at large now had an
Speaker 1: easy to read and understand chart that outlined a hurricanes impact.
Speaker 1: While the Safer Simpson scale is a good measuring tool,
Speaker 1: it doesn't really tell the full story of a hurricanes impact.
Speaker 1: Hurricanes pack a lot of kinetic energy, and as a byproduct,
Speaker 1: a hurricane's power increases exponentially from one category to the
Speaker 1: next as wind speed increases. A Category five hurricane, for example,
Speaker 1: is five hundred times more powerful than a Category one.
Speaker 1: How does this relate to property damage Compared to a
Speaker 1: Category one? A Category to hurricane can generate seven times
Speaker 1: the amount of damage, while a Category five storm can
Speaker 1: generate a hundred and forty four times the amount of destruction.
Speaker 1: Today's episode was written by John Paritano and pretty by
Speaker 1: Dylan Fagan and Tyler Clang. For more on listen lots
Speaker 1: of other topics, visit how stuffworks dot com. Brain Stuff
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