AccuWeather, the world’s largest and fastest-growing weather media company as well as the leader in weather-related data, business and predictive analytics, has announced the introduction of a new important scale to help people and businesses better understand the full impact of hurricanes. Called the AccuWeather RealImpact™ Scale for Hurricanes, this innovative new scale is based on a broad range of important factors and is designed to provide practical and critical information people can use to evaluate the threat posed by a hurricane or tropical storm and take the appropriate steps to stay safe and protect property. The Saffir-Simpson scale which has been used by meteorologists for decades classifies storms by wind speed only.
The announcement of the new AccuWeather RealImpact Scale for Hurricanes is being made during the American Meteorological Society’s annual meeting, the largest gathering of weather professionals, to allow for commentary and input from the meteorological community.
The AccuWeather RealImpact Scale (AccuWeather RI™) for Hurricanes categorizes hurricanes and tropical storms on a six-point scale. Like the Saffir-Simpson scale, the AccuWeather RealImpact Scale for Hurricanes uses the 1 to 5 rating, but also adds an additional rating of “Less than 1.” The “Less than 1” score provides insight on hurricanes and tropical storms that don’t rise to a Category 1 on the Saffir-Simpson scale. Storms designated with this rating may still cause substantial destruction, injury or loss of life.
The new AccuWeather RealImpact Scale for Hurricanes is based on a variety of diverse, contributing factors, such as flooding rain, high winds and storm surge as well as the total damage and economic impact from the storm, rather than simply wind. As a result, the unique, new scale will communicate a more comprehensive representation of the potential impact of a storm on lives and livelihoods.