Do you know what it takes for a storm to become a hurricane? We asked our Emergency Management Agency Director, Spencer Hawkins!
“They’ll start as tropical systems, waves, depressions, and then as they intensify and the organization of the storm develops, the National Hurricane Center will start classifying the storms based on their wind intensity,” said Hawkins.
Hurricanes are categorized from 1 to 5. Category 5 hurricane windspeeds start at 155 miles per hour, but wind is not the only threat.
“We have to not only anticipate the damage the wind could bring, but also the storm surge,” said Hawkins.
As for how hurricanes get their names, the National Hurricane Center comes up with them and releases the names at the start of hurricane season. Names will eventually get reused unless, they have a devastating impact and get retired.
Don’t forget, you can always be prepared by signing up for MBCAlert at maconbibb.us/EMA to get weather alerts sent straight to your phone.