{"686060":{"#nid":"686060","#data":{"type":"external_news","title":"Some scientists say it\u2019s time to rethink how we measure hurricanes. Here\u0027s why","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EAs Hurricane Melissa barrels toward Jamaica as a Category 5 storm, some in the meteorological community are questioning if the traditional way of measuring hurricane strength still tells the full story.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/eas.gatech.edu\/people\/handlos-zachary\u0022\u003EZachary Handlos\u003C\/a\u003E, director of the Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences Undergraduate Degree Program at Georgia Tech, believes it might be time to rethink how we classify hurricanes.\u0026nbsp;While the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale, which rates storms from Category 1 through 5 based solely on maximum wind speed, has been used for decades, Handlos says it doesn\u2019t always capture a storm\u2019s true impact.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cYou don\u2019t have to be a tropical cyclone expert to know that the scale has some limitations,\u201d Handlos said. \u201cIt doesn\u2019t necessarily portray how strong or impactful a hurricane can be beyond its wind speed.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":"","format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EAs Hurricane Melissa barrels toward Jamaica as a Category 5 storm, some in the meteorological community are questioning if the traditional way of measuring hurricane strength still tells the full story.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/eas.gatech.edu\/people\/handlos-zachary\u0022\u003EZachary Handlos\u003C\/a\u003E, director of the Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences Undergraduate Degree Program at Georgia Tech, believes it might be time to rethink how we classify hurricanes.\u0026nbsp;While the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale, which rates storms from Category 1 through 5 based solely on maximum wind speed, has been used for decades, Handlos says it doesn\u2019t always capture a storm\u2019s true impact.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cYou don\u2019t have to be a tropical cyclone expert to know that the scale has some limitations,\u201d Handlos said. \u201cIt doesn\u2019t necessarily portray how strong or impactful a hurricane can be beyond its wind speed.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":"","uid":"36583","created_gmt":"2025-10-28 20:39:03","changed_gmt":"2025-10-29 14:31:52","author":"lvidal7","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","publication":"11Alive News","field_article_url":"","publication_url":"https:\/\/www.11alive.com\/article\/weather\/scientists-say-time-to-rethink-hurricane-measurement\/507-6248741c-bbe2-47c5-a8ee-1c29bd4f100b","dateline":{"date":"2025-10-27T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2025-10-27T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"groups":[{"id":"1278","name":"College of Sciences"},{"id":"364801","name":"School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences (EAS)"}],"categories":[{"id":"150","name":"Physics and Physical Sciences"},{"id":"135","name":"Research"},{"id":"134","name":"Student and Faculty"}],"keywords":[{"id":"4896","name":"College of Sciences"},{"id":"166926","name":"School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences"},{"id":"1860","name":"hurricane"},{"id":"192254","name":"cos-climate"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[],"email":[],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}