Expert: Donald Rosenfeld - 2/28/2005

Question
Hello Donald,

I know all about the various categories of hurricanes and the related wind speeds. I was wondering just how strong a Cat 5 hurricane could conceiveably become. I watched a documentary on the Discovery Channel that mentioned the 1935 Labor Day hurricane that hit the Florida keys. It said the winds were GUSTING over 200 mph. Just how strong can the SUSTAINED winds get? 200mph? More? Any thoughs on this would be appreciated.

Sincerely,
brian

Answer
Hi Brian

There has been a study done on your question; take a look at:

http://grads.iges.org/pix/hurpot.html

http://tinyurl.com/6qprv

ftp://texmex.mit.edu/pub/emanuel/PAPERS/max88.pdf

ftp://texmex.mit.edu/pub/emanuel/PAPERS/statistical.pdf

ftp://texmex.mit.edu/pub/emanuel/PAPERS/free_etal2004.pdf