TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) -- A University of South Florida professor is among a team of researchers suggesting a change to how the risks associated with tropical cyclones are communicated.

Forecasters currently use the Saffir-Simpson scale, which dates back to the 1970s. It ranks a storm on a scale of 1-5 based solely on its wind speed.

In 2021, Jennifer Collins, USF professor and hurricane researcher, and a team from the Netherlands set out to find a better way to communicate all risks associated with a storm - not just damaging winds.

They developed a solution that also factors in storm surge and rainfall, ranking each variable on a 1-5 scale. The numbers are combined to form the storm's overall risk category, on a scale of 1-6.

On this edition of Tracking the Tropics, our team sits down wi

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