A Georgia Tech researcher says we may need more tools to measure the full impacts of strong hurricanes like Melissa.

MELISSA EXPECTED TO BRING CATASTROPHIC AND LIFE-THREATENING WINDS, FLOODING, AND STORM SURGE TO JAMAICA LATER TONIGHT AND ON TUESDAY... Melissa expected to begin to to turn north overnight into Tuesday.

Jamaica is expected to be in the storm's eyewall, which refers to the band of dense clouds surrounding the eye of the hurricane. The eyewall generally produces the fiercest winds and heaviest rainfall, according to Deanna Hence, a professor of climate, meteorology and atmospheric sciences at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.

From grocery stores to neighborhoods, a hurricane's category might be among the most discussed aspects of a threatening storm. Those categories are based on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale, which is one tool for assessing the intensity of a ...

For the last few years, I have opined about the inadequacy of the Saffir — Simpson scale for conveying the full impacts of hurricanes. Harvey (2017), Milton (2024) and Helene (2024) are examples of hurricanes that altered landscapes and entire regions ...

Tropical systems tracked by the National Hurricane Center will be classified as depressions, tropical storms and hurricanes based on their intensity. The NHC will label a system a tropical depression when it has sustained winds below 38 mph but shows the ...

Hurricane Melissa is a Category 4 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson scale, with a maximum of 5, with maximum sustained winds of 220 kilometers per hour and higher gusts.