TOPICAL STORMS
^{Safety Service}

Storm Threat Scales... Fujita and Saffir-Simpson

Fujita reference suggestion...

When a major cyclonic tropical storm is forecast, the Saffir-Simpson scale is presented to the public: catagory 1 storms are slow wind speed and catagory 5 storms are fast wind speed. The tornado, technically termed mesovortex, that is a common feature in all major tropical cyclonic storms, is not included in storm warnings, except in Japan and perhaps a few other countries. Tornados exist in all major tropical storms. Only flood proof and sealed underground shelter is safe.

"Several methods have been developed to rank meteorological events in terms of severity, social impact, or economic impact. The Fujita scale (Fujita 1981) ranks tornadoes based upon wind damage patterns. The Saffir–Simpson scale ranks hurricanes based upon the maximum wind speed (Simpson 1974). (NCEP)" The Fujita scale is directed at overland tornados, not a tropical storm accumulation. Saffir-Simpson does not separate the mesovortex child events from the parent cyclonic event. Perhaps this uncertainty contributes to the reluctance in many jurisdictions charged with public protection, to report and manage public safety in a manner that can address both cyclonic and tornadic events simultaneously. Wind complexity illustrates just one aspect of geosocial bias that threatens population preparedness.

"Historically, the storms that are deemed the most significant are those that usually achieve the greatest media attention or impact the largest population centers... This subjectivity is compounded by preparedness issues. A winter storm of a given size or intensity usually has greater impact upon the population at lower latitudes than the same storm would at higher latitudes. Further, the observation network is biased toward the densely populated urban corridors and against rural and oceanic areas. Clearly, the ranking of meteorological phenomena within both the media and the meteorological community is subjective. (NCEP)" Geosocial bias towards Temporate Zone climates effects population centers in modern European colony settlement in the Americas, compounding wind complexity.

So we see that historically sovereign Japan correctly isolates and issues mesovortex warnings, while historically colonial United States completely ignores mesovortex activity in its storm warnings. Wind complexity and geosocial bias effect reports on storm warnings for the same storm issued by both jurisdictions (Faxai, 2019). Storm related mesovortexes are family evening news in Japan, while in the United States the mesovortex is not even mentioned in government scientific storm analysis (SSEC and CIMSS).

Global warming will increase the number and severity of cyclonic tropical storms, which may also encourage a global shift to universal application of Fujita and Saffir Scales to report severe cyclonic storm events. In future, rather than storm warning FAXAI Cat5, we could hopefully see FAXAI Cat5 F1, or simply FAXAI 5-1. This can help to reduce damage and increase survival.
AMS Journals (NCEP: National Centers for Environmental Protection)

Some interesting links: NCEP: National Centers for Environmental Protection, Severe Tropical Storms, Mesovortices, Saffir-Simpson, Dr. Fujita