TAMPA, Fla. — Hurricane Milton has its sights set on Florida's Gulf Coast and that includes the Tampa Bay area.
The storm rapidly intensified over a matter of hours Monday from a Category 2 storm to a large and powerful Category 5 hurricane. To put that in perspective, wind speeds at 5 a.m. Monday were only around 100 mph. By 1:30 p.m., wind speeds were topping 175 mph.
With the intense strengthening of Milton, many people are wondering if there's a hurricane category above Category 5. Is there such as thing as a category 6 storm?
Here's what you should know:
Is there a Category 6 hurricane?
In short — no. There is no official Category 6 for hurricanes.
However, some experts have proposed a new category to encompass massive hurricanes.
Studies have shown that the strongest tropical storms are getting more intense because of climate change. So the traditional five-category Saffir-Simpson scale, developed more than 50 years ago, may not show the true power of the most muscular storms, two climate scientists suggest in a study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. They propose a sixth category for storms with winds that exceed 192 miles per hour.
Currently, storms with winds of 157 mph or higher are Category 5. The study's authors said that open-ended grouping doesn't warn people enough about the higher dangers from monstrous storms that flirt with 200 mph winds or higher.
Several experts told The Associated Press they don't think another category is necessary. They said it could even give the wrong signal to the public because it's based on wind speed, while water is by far the deadliest killer in hurricanes.
Hurricane categories
According to the National Hurricane Center, here's how hurricane categories are broken down:
Category 1: Wind speeds between 74 to 95 mph
Category 2: Wind speeds between 96 and 110 mph
Category 3: Wind speeds between 111-129 mph; is considered a "major" hurricane
Category 4: Wind speeds between 130-156 mph; is considered a "major" hurricane
Category 5: Wind speeds 157 mph and higher; is considered a "major" hurricane
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
