I made a scale for measuring hurricanes
that takes into account the proportion of
deaths that occur from each threat
(wind, rain, surge). You can see in the top
right of the spreadsheet the percentage of
deaths that each one causes and then
that extrapolated to add to 100%. I used
the Saffir-Simpson scale for wind and then just
arbitrary marks for the others. I kept the 6
categories (TS-5). To get a wind "score"
to add to the overall score which I used to
get the categories, I multiplied the wind
speeds by the percent of deaths they
cause. To get a rain "score" I divided the
Category 2 median wind (S-S scale; 103 mph)
by the Category 2 equivalent rain (14.5 inches) to
make them of equal scales. In order to
compare my scale to the current
scale, I created a product similar
to the "practically perfect" product
for severe weather. It takes into
account damage and deaths
caused by past storms to figure
out what category they 'should'
have been. To sort each into categories
(two for each category on the scale;
when I only sorted it into one for
each it was nearly impossible to get
a tropical storm), I just sorted by number
and broke it into roughly equal sections.
The average of the two numbers
(one for deaths, one for damage),
divided by two and rounded up,
becomes the hindcast for a given storm.
Feel free to get in touch if you have
any comments, questions, or concerns.
Ways to reach me are on the spreadsheet.
Here is the scale. The first tab is the methodology,
the second is the three versions of the scale
tested on every Atlantic basin land-impacting
storm since 2012 and compared to the current scale,
the third tab is the hindcast for deaths, and the
fourth tab is the hindcast for damage.
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