Saomai landfall: cat-4 or cat-2?

[phantom power]

The media is calling Saomai the worst typhoon to hit China in 50 years, but there is some dispute about just how strong the storm was at landfall. Here is comparison of intensities from three different agencies at Saomai's landfall at 12 GMT August 10:

U.S. Joint Typhoon Warning Center: 1-min sustained winds of 135 mph, Cat 4.
Japan Meteorological Agency: 1-min sustained winds of 100 mph, Cat 2.
Hong Kong Observatory: 1-min sustained winds of 115 mph, Cat 3.

So, these three agencies all using the same satellite data couldn't agree on the strength of this typhoon within two Saffir-Simpson categories! This underscores the difficulty of trying to determine if global warming is causing an increase in Category 4 and 5 hurricanes--even today with much better tools and training, experts still can't agree on storm intensities with the accuracy needed for such a study.

http://www.wunderground.com/blog/JeffMasters/comment.html?entrynum=456&tstamp=200608