The Saffir-Simpson scale needs a provision for storm surge.

Inspired by what I think has been a dangerous (deadly) false sense of security in the Houston/Galveston area as a result of the comparatively high surge/low winds of Hurricane Ike - I think I'm going to try to put together a paper for the AMS arguing for a revision to the Saffir-Simpson scale.

Like the current scale, the new scale would be designed to quantify potential damage to homes. The new scale could potentially include a letter after the number, to account for water effects (the number accounts only for wind speeds). For an average Category 2 storm, the designation would be Category 2C, for a storm with below-average flood risk (maybe a fast moving storm) it could be Category 2B or 2A. So maybe Ike, on the new scale could be given a designation of "Category 2E" for "greatly higher than average storm surge/inland flooding potential".

Current scale