Warm tropical waters are a key ingredient for a tropical cyclone to form, and even warmer waters mean there’s more energy available to feed into them. The authors explore how a new Category 6 for the Saffir-Simpson scale that starts at 309 km/h could help illustrate this change. Five storms in the past nine years would have qualified as a Category 6, they found.
This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://www.sciencemediacentre.co.nz/2024/02/07/faster-tropical-cyclones-in-a-warming-world-expert-reaction/