Because that area of Florida is so sparsely populated, and with no amateur or other weather stations that will have power and online, I won't be able to do a post-mortem check for this storm. So, I'll admit that this won't be the example that I was looking for.
My guess is that they will call this a Cat 5 and link it to global warming, etc. A Cat 5 would maintain the "inflation" margin of 3 categories (the storm is Cat 2). Like I said, I won't have any data to look at near landfall. In that regard, it'll be like hurricane Patricia that was sold as a Cat 5 and strongest storm EVER. It hit south of Puerto Vallarta. A few storm chasers were there and the storm lasted about 20 minutes---more like a wide tornado than a hurricane. No one at the NOAA will ever seek to re-characterize that storm as something other than a hurricane. Patricia totally dissappated shortly after landfall and no storm watchers could even find any damage--which is weird for "the most powerful hurricane IN HISTORY!!" Even satellite imagery shows that this "storm" dissappated instantly upon landfall. There wasn't even any rain reported in PV, Guadalajara or any city near landfall.
I see that Wunderground.com has raised max wind speeds in Perry to 80 to 100 mph. That's quite a big change. Their advertising Idalia as having strengthened to a Cat 4, but 80 to 100 mph is Cat 2-ish. So, this storm is outperforming my expectations. Cat 2 is pretty bad. I'm not going to lie. I'll update later
Because that area of Florida is so sparsely populated, and with no amateur or other weather stations that will have power and online, I won't be able to do a post-mortem check for this storm. So, I'll admit that this won't be the example that I was looking for.
My guess is that they will call this a Cat 5 and link it to global warming, etc. A Cat 5 would maintain the "inflation" margin of 3 categories (the storm is Cat 2). Like I said, I won't have any data to look at near landfall. In that regard, it'll be like hurricane Patricia that was sold as a Cat 5 and strongest storm EVER. It hit south of Puerto Vallarta. A few storm chasers were there and the storm lasted about 20 minutes---more like a wide tornado than a hurricane. No one at the NOAA will ever seek to re-characterize that storm as something other than a hurricane. Patricia totally dissappated shortly after landfall and no storm watchers could even find any damage--which is weird for "the most powerful hurricane IN HISTORY!!" Even satellite imagery shows that this "storm" dissappated instantly upon landfall. There wasn't even any rain reported in PV, Guadalajara or any city near landfall.
I see that Wunderground.com has raised max wind speeds in Perry to 80 to 100 mph. That's quite a big change. Their advertising Idalia as having strengthened to a Cat 4, but 80 to 100 mph is Cat 2-ish. So, this storm is outperforming my expectations. Cat 2 is pretty bad. I'm not going to lie. I'll update later