Why is there more emphasis placed on storm surge than in the past?
It’s the high-profile events, such as Katrina and Ike, that have put storm surge in the spotlight both scientifically and in the media. So now it has become the “thing to talk about”, certainly a hot topic at the present time. NHC is experimentally disassociating storm surge from the Saffir Simpson Hurricane Scale. That was one of the things that appeared to significantly contribute to public confusion. The Saffir Simpson scale had ranges of storm surge that would typically accompany an average category hurricane. But as we saw with previous storms, it is more than just the wind (that generates storm surge). Storm surge is a complicated phenomenon that is a function of many things such as bathymetry, the shape of the coastline, the forward speed and size of the hurricane. It’s not just the maximum intensity that is controlling storm surge. For example? The best example is Category 4 Hurricane Charley (in 2004) which struck the southwest coast of Florida and produced six to seven feet o
