The Saffir-Simpson scale to rank hurricanes doesn't account for all dangers

This is an Inside Science story.

(Inside Science) -- Meteorologists rank hurricanes from category 1 to 5 based on wind speed.

It’s called the Saffir-Simpson scale.

And Kyra Bryant, graduate student at Tennessee State University, says we should update it.

That scale doesn’t account for dangers like flooding or storm surge.

And as ice melts and sea levels rise, we may see more storms with lower wind speed but lots of rain – the kind of storm that the Saffir-Simpson scale can’t accurately describe.

Inside Science is an editorially-independent nonprofit print, electronic and video journalism news service owned and operated by the American Institute of Physics.