Hurricane Milton might have breached 'Cat 6' cutoff, expert says. 'I am at a loss...'

Florida

Hurricane Milton has supercharged into a 180-miles-per-hour storm so quickly that experts say it might be classified as a Category 6 storm, a categorisation that doesn't even exist. It is breaking all records, moving from a Category 2 to a Category 5 hurricane within hours.

Florida’s Gulf Coast is bracing for the impact of extremely strong Hurricane Milton which is expected to bring massive storm surge. The areas already reeling from Helene’s devastation might witness even stronger destruction as Milton approaches. 

The storm formed in the Gulf of Mexico, blowing at 60 mph on Sunday morning. It then became extremely strong very quickly, exploding into a powerhouse 180-mph Category 5 hurricane in 36 hours.

Hurricane Milton won't technically be a Category 6 storm since storms are only measured up to a scale of 5. However, the immense strength that Milton packs has left experts questioning the long-followed method and whether a sixth category needs to be added.

Scientist and author Michael E. Mann says that "#Milton might have actually breached the 192 mph 'cat 6' cutoff."

Breaching the limit of 192 mph would bring it to a threshold only five other hurricanes and typhoons have reached since 1980, Michael Wehner, a climate scientist at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, and Jim Kossin, a retired federal scientist and science advisor at the nonprofit First Street Foundation, told USA Today.

'Strongest storm on Earth in 2024'

Orlando meteorologist, Noah Bergen, told CNN, "I am at a loss for words to meteorlogically describe to you the storm's small eye and intensity," adding that he saw wind gusts as high as 200 miles per hour with maximum sustained winds at 180 mph. CNN has called the storm "the strongest on Earth in 2024"

Also Read: Hurricane Milton: Largest evacuation in a decade ordered in Florida as Category 5 storm nears

"This is now the fourth strongest hurricane ever recorded by pressure on this side of the world. The eye is tiny at nearly 3.8 miles wide. This hurricane is nearing the mathematical limit of what Earth's atmosphere over this ocean water can produce," he said.

According to the National Weather Service in Tampa Bay, "if the storm stays on the current track, it will be the worst storm to impact the Tampa area in over 100 years."

Since the 1970s, hurricanes have been categorised into five groups based on wind speed ranges using the Saffir-Simpson Wind Scale, developed by engineer Herbert Saffir and Robert Simpson. The limit for Category 5 storms is winds of 157 miles per hour.

Wehner and Kossin say that considering the warming climate, "broader discussions" on the growing risk of storms is needed. However, it might not be time to add a sixth category right now.