Tropical Storm Fay may strengthen into a hurricane during the next 24 hours. This got me thinking about the Saffir-Simpson Scale. We all know that it is the scale used to classify hurricanes. And much like tornadoes' Fujita Scale (named after the foremost tornado scientist) the Saffir-Simpson scale indeed is named after two guys Saffir and Simpson. Let's take a closer look at the lives of these meteorological pioneers.
IMAGE COURTESY OF USATODAY
Herbert Saffir (left) was born in March 1917. He studied civil engineering at Georgia Institute of Technology, graduating in 1940. He published many articles on how to design buildings to withstand strong wind. He spent many years working in Miami-Dade County, Florida. His goal was to improve building codes areawide with special emphasis on stricter codes for hurricane prone areas. In 1969 he began working on a scale to categorize the intensity of hurricanes with the help of a good friend, Robert Simpson. Sadly Mr. Saffir died last November of a heart attack.
IMAGE COURTESY OF THE SEATTLE TIMES
Robert Simpson (left) was born in Corpus Christi, Texas in 1912. Living along the coast he loved weather and graduated with an undergraduate degree in Physics from Southwestern University and a graduate degree from Emory. He became a Brownsville, Texas weather observer in 1940 but quickly worked his way up the ladder within the Weather Bureau. He became director of the National Hurricane Center in 1968 where he met Herbert Saffir. With his knowledge of weather and Herbert's knowledge of building strength the two came up with the hurricane scale we know today as the Saffir-Simpson Scale. He has been retired for years and is still living in a Washington DC suburb with his wife.
IMAGE COURTESY OF NOAA
Tropical Storm Fay may strengthen into a hurricane during the next 24 hours. This got me thinking about the Saffir-Simpson Scale. We all know that it is the scale used to classify hurricanes. And much like tornadoes' Fujita Scale (named after the foremost tornado scientist) the Saffir-Simpson scale indeed is named after two guys Saffir and Simpson. Let's take a closer look at the lives of these meteorological pioneers. IMAGE COURTESY OF USATODAY
Herbert Saffir (left) was born in March 1917. He studied civil engineering at Georgia Institute of Technology, graduating in 1940. He published many articles on how to design buildings to withstand strong wind. He spent many years working in Miami-Dade County, Florida. His goal was to improve building codes areawide with special emphasis on stricter codes for hurricane prone areas. In 1969 he began working on a scale to categorize the intensity of hurricanes with the help of a good friend, Robert Simpson. Sadly Mr. Saffir died last November of a heart attack. IMAGE COURTESY OF THE SEATTLE TIMES
Robert Simpson (left) was born in Corpus Christi, Texas in 1912. Living along the coast he loved weather and graduated with an undergraduate degree in Physics from Southwestern University and a graduate degree from Emory. He became a Brownsville, Texas weather observer in 1940 but quickly worked his way up the ladder within the Weather Bureau. He became director of the National Hurricane Center in 1968 where he met Herbert Saffir. With his knowledge of weather and Herbert's knowledge of building strength the two came up with the hurricane scale we know today as the Saffir-Simpson Scale. He has been retired for years and is still living in a Washington DC suburb with his wife. IMAGE COURTESY OF NOAA
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