An Alabama high school junior has been charged with manslaughter in a shooting on campus Wednesday afternoon that left a female classmate dead. Michael Jerome Barber, 17, of Birmingham, is also charged with one count of certain persons forbidden to possess a pistol, according to the Jefferson County District Attorney’s Office. The second charge stems from allegations that Barber brought the pistol that killed Courtlin La’shawn Arrington, also 17, onto the campus of Huffman High School, the DA’s office reported in a news release. Arrington, a senior and aspiring nurse, was pronounced dead at UAB Hospital about 30 minutes after the shooting, which took place around 3:45 p.m. during student dismissal. District Attorney Mike Anderton’s office reported for the first time Friday that the shooting took place in a classroom. “The District Attorney’s Office has examined the investigation of the Birmingham Police Department and the evidence collected by BPD,” Anderton said in a statement. “They have talked with many of the students in the school, in the classroom where the shooting took place and collected evidence from the scene.” Based on that evidence, warrants were issued for Barber’s arrest, Anderton said. “Our hearts go out to the family of Ms. Arrington, all of her friends and those whose lives would have been changed through her nursing dreams had this event not occurred,” Anderton said. “This is a parent’s worst nightmare. We expect the charges will be heard through the court system and justice meted out to the person responsible.” No motive for the shooting has been released. Anderton said on Friday, however, that his office “stands strong with the Huffman High School Vikings, the Birmingham school board and the Birmingham Police Department in denouncing the continued use of firearms by anyone to settle disputes.” “This is especially true for the students of our county, where they should be and feel safe in the learning environment of a school,” Anderton said. It was unclear if there was a dispute between Barber, a junior and wide receiver for the Huffman High Vikings, and Arrington. >> Read more trending news AL.com reported that Birmingham City Schools Superintendent Lisa Herring acknowledged Thursday that Huffman High has two working metal detectors, but that the devices were not in use the day of the shooting. Herring said she has already requested additional metal detectors for the school district. The school also had three school resource officers on campus Wednesday, but their whereabouts when the shots were fired have not been made public, AL.com said. Police investigators initially believed the shooting to possibly have been accidental since Barber was also injured, but they began to question that idea after viewing video recorded of the incident. The source of that video has not been made public. As the investigation progressed, detectives took Barber, who suffered a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the leg, into custody as a person of interest. Barber, who had been held in the Birmingham City Jail since being released from the hospital, was moved Friday to the Jefferson County Jail, where his bail had been set at $75,300. He was apparently bailed out of the county jail Friday afternoon. A woman named Makiya Barber, who identified herself as Michael Barber’s sister, posted a photo on Facebook that showed him in street clothes, sitting in the backseat of a car. A photo filter put flower crowns on the siblings’ heads as they mugged for the camera. “Out the big ole gate!” Makiya Barber wrote. “Y’all can stop the fake friend request(s) now. God still gotta plan for the kid!” [The social media post was made private after the publication of this article.] In previous posts, Makiya Barber argued that the shooting that killed Arrington was an accident. “And what y'all NOT about to do is make my brother out to be this horrible unparented child,” she wrote in one post. “All the he say, she say ... we have the facts! “Rest in peace, baby girl, and my brother is gonna come out stronger and wiser.” Another post pointed out the fact that detectives have footage of the shooting. “The police have footage and facts, so the countdown to see my brother is on! Mike Mike, I know you hungry!” The post included several hashtags, including one offering prayers for the Arrington family and one that stated, “Everything for a reason.” Arrington, who was due to graduate in two months, had already been accepted into college, where she planned to study nursing. Her Facebook page, which has since been turned into a memorial page, includes an introduction that reads, “SEN18R. Dream come true, gotta chase it. Future RN.” Her last photo that she posted of herself appeared to be taken in the hallway of the school. It was posted the day before she was killed. Her photos also include images of her wearing scrubs. During a news conference held inside the school Wednesday night, Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin spoke of the grief of losing a girl with a bright future. “I know that there’s an active investigation going on, but I just want to remind all of us we lost a person today, and not just a person, a student,” Woodfin said. “But I’m quickly reminded this is not just a student, this is someone’s daughter. Someone’s niece. Someone’s best friend. Someone’s granddaughter we lost. “This is a 17-year-old who, 30 days from now, would be 18. A graduating senior who had been accepted into college already, who had aspirations and dreams to be a nurse. So, we’re not just talking about some person. We’re talking about losing a part of our future. And our hearts are heavy.” Herring kept Huffman High closed on Thursday, but the school’s doors reopened to students, faculty and staff Friday. The night of the shooting, she described Arrington as “one of (the district’s) brightest and best scholars.” She told AL.com that Birmingham students will honor Arrington during the National School Walkout next Wednesday. They will stand outside for 18 minutes instead of 17, adding Arrington to the 17 students killed on Valentine’s Day at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. ||||| Category 5 on the Saffir-Simpson hurricane scale has no upper bound, on paper. But in theory, winds from a powerful hurricane could blow the scale out of the water, scientists say. There is no such thing as a Category 6 storm, in part because once winds reach Category 5 status, it doesn't matter what you call it, it's really, really, bad. 
 
 The scale starts with a Category 1, which ranges from 74 to 95 mph (119 to 153 km/h). A Category 5 storm has winds of 156 mph (251 km/h) or stronger. An extrapolation of the scale suggests that if a Category 6 were created, it would be in the range of 176-196 mph. 
 
 Hurricane Wilma, in 2005, had top winds of 175 mph (280 km/h). And as of Tuesday morning (Sept. 5, 2017), Hurricane Irma's winds were raging at a whopping 175 mph (280 km/h) as well, with the potential to strengthen, according to the National Hurricane Center, part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Irma is churning about 270 miles (440 kilometers) east of Antigua and 280 miles (445 km) east-southeast of Barbuda, the NHC says. [A History of Destruction: 8 Great Hurricanes] 
 
 How much faster could hurricane winds blow? A hurricane gains strength by using warm water as fuel. With Earth's climate warming, oceans may grow warmer, too. And so, some scientists predict, hurricanes might become stronger. Particularly, researchers have found the strongest storms should become even more intense as the planet warms, Live Science previously reported. By the end of the 21st century, human-caused global warming will likely increase hurricane intensity, on average, by 2 to 11 percent, according to a review by NOAA's Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory, revised on Aug. 30, 2017. 
 
 But physics dictates there must be a limit. Based on ocean and atmospheric conditions on Earth nowadays, the estimated maximum potential for hurricanes is about 190 mph (305 km/h), according to a 1998 calculation by Kerry Emanuel, a climatologist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. 
 
 This upper limit is not absolute, however. It can change due to changes in climate. Scientists predict that as global warming continues, the maximum potential hurricane intensity will go up. They disagree, however, on what the increase will be. 
 
 Emanuel and other scientists have predicted that wind speeds — including maximum wind speeds — should increase by about 5 percent for every 1 degree Celsius increase in tropical ocean temperatures. [A Guide to Hurricane Season 2017] 
 
 Chris Landsea, a meteorologist at the National Hurricane Center, disagrees. 
 
 After Wilma, Landsea said that even in the worst-case global warming scenarios, where global temperatures ratchet up by an additional 1.8 degrees to 10.8 degrees Fahrenheit (1 to 6 degrees Celsius), there would be about a 5 percent change, total, by the end of the 21st century. That means that hurricane-force winds are unlikely to exceed 200 mph (322 km/h), Landsea said. 
 
 However, Typhoon Nancy in 1961, in the Northwest Pacific Ocean, was said to have maximum sustained winds of 215 mph (346 km/h), according to the World Meteorological Organization's Commission on Climatology, a clearinghouse for climate records set up at Arizona State University to settle the many disputes on weather and climate extremes. (A typhoon is the same thing as a hurricane, just in a different part of the world.) 
 
 There are known records for wind speeds that outstrip anything ever measured in a hurricane. The fastest "regular" (or non-storm) wind that's widely agreed upon as the record-holder — 231 mph (372 km/h), recorded at Mount Washington, New Hampshire, on April 12, 1934. During a tornado in May of 1999 in Oklahoma, researchers clocked the wind at 318 mph (512 km/h). 
 
 Shortly after Wilma topped out in 2005, Emanuel called the Saffir-Simpson scale irrational, in part, because it deals only with wind, ignoring factors such as a storm's size, rainfall potential and forward speed. For instance, Tropical Storm Harvey, which made landfall in Texas as a hurricane on Aug. 25, 2017, dumped unprecedented amounts of rain on areas of the state, causing devastation in the Houston area. One rain gauge picked up more than 51 inches of rainfall, according to NOAA. 
 
 "I think the whole category system needs serious rethinking," Emanuel told Live Science after Wilma. 
 
 But Herbert Saffir, co-creator of the scale, countered that his scale was useful because it was simple. "As simple as it is, I like the scale," Saffir said in a post-Wilma telephone interview. "I don't like to see it too complex." 
 
 Here's why no Category 6 was included: The scale was designed to measure the amount of damage inflicted by winds, and beyond 156 mph, the damage begins to look about the same, according to Simpson. 
 
 Editor's Note: This article was first published on Oct. 16, 2012, and then updated in 2017 with more recent hurricane information. ||||| Hurricane Irma has begun to devastate the Leeward Islands of the Caribbean as one of the most intense Atlantic cyclones on record, but whether and where it reaches the United States mainland depends on its speed and interactions with two other weather systems. 
 
 Irma had maximum sustained winds of 185 mph — the equivalent of an EF-4 tornado — as the eye made its first landfall in the islands of the northeast Caribbean early today, passing over Barbuda around 1:47 a.m., the National Weather Service said. 
 
 Residents said over local radio that phone lines went down. Heavy rain and howling winds raked the neighboring island of Antigua, sending debris flying as people huddled in their homes or government shelters. Officials warned people to seek protection from Irma's "onslaught" in a statement that closed with: "May God protect us all." 
 
 Irma, which is churning along a path pointing to Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, Haiti and Cuba before possibly heading for Florida over the weekend, is the strongest Atlantic hurricane on record outside of the Gulf of Mexico or Caribbean Sea, according to the National Hurricane Center. Its intensity is on par with those of hurricanes Andrew, Katrina and Rita, and behind only Hurricane Allen in 1980, which had 190 mph winds. 
 
 The hurricane center called Irma “potentially catastrophic.” Carlos Anselmi, a National Weather Service meteorologist in San Juan, Puerto Rico, said the U.S. territory has not seen a storm of Irma’s magnitude in a century. 
 
 Phil Klotzbach, a meteorologist at Colorado State University, said, "The Leeward Islands are going to get destroyed." 
 
 "I just pray that this thing wobbles and misses them,” he said. “This is a serious storm." 
 
 Forecasters expect Irma will continue to move northwestward toward the Bahamas and Cuba, and eventually Florida. Florida Gov. Rick Scott declared a state of emergency Monday and urged preparations for the worst. Evacuations from Miami Beach and the Keys were expected to begin Wednesday. 
 
 National Hurricane Center (National Hurricane Center) 
 
 Predictions for where the storm might hit the U.S. mainland this weekend remain tentative. Models suggest landfall anywhere from Alabama on the Gulf of Mexico to the Carolinas on the Atlantic Coast. 
 
 An area of high pressure that covers the Atlantic from Bermuda to the Azores is expected to steer Irma. Such zones have clockwise circulation, so tropical systems are often pulled around them, up the coast. 
 
 If the so-called “Bermuda high” is expansive and strong, it could push Irma into the Gulf of Mexico or up the Atlantic coast, the Weather Channel noted. 
 
 A weaker Bermuda high could allow Irma to remain offshore as it curves around the pressure system and into colder Atlantic waters. 
 
 Irma could be blocked from moving into the Gulf by a separate system that could itself strengthen to a tropical storm in the coming days. 
 
 “That could kind of act as a wall,” said Tom Kines, a senior meteorologist with AccuWeather.com. 
 
 The hurricane center estimates a 70 percent chance the low-pressure area over Mexico’s Bay of Campeche will become Tropical Storm Katia in the next two days. Tropical Storm Jose formed in the middle of the Atlantic on Tuesday, and was expected to become a hurricane Thursday. 
 
 If Irma does make landfall in Florida, it likely wouldn’t be until Sunday. The National Hurricane Center predicts it will remain a major hurricane until then, potentially making it just the second major storm to strike the U.S. in a dozen years. Hurricane Harvey was the first since Wilma in 2005. 
 
 "This hurricane has the potential to be a major event for the East Coast,” said Evan Myers, AccuWeather’s chief operating officer. “It also has the potential to significantly strain FEMA and other governmental resources occurring so quickly on the heels of Harvey.” 
 
 Hurricane-force winds extend 60 miles out in all directions from Irma’s 30-mile-wide eye, making it a large storm that threatens virtually all of Florida. 
 
 If Irma is going to reach Maryland and the Mid-Atlantic, that wouldn’t be until some time around next Tuesday — a week away. 
 
 The Associated Press contributed to this article. 
 
 Photos of weather in Maryland in 2017. 
 
 sdance@baltsun.com 
 
 twitter.com/ssdance
– On Tuesday, Hurricane Irma—currently the strongest Atlantic hurricane ever recorded outside the Caribbean Sea or Gulf of Mexico—hit wind speeds of 185mph, the Baltimore Sun reports. And scientists are split on whether it's even possible for a hurricane to get much stronger. According to Live Science, warm water makes hurricanes stronger, and warming oceans due to climate change could theoretically create ever-stronger hurricanes. For example, NOAA states human-caused global warming could increase hurricane strength by 2% to 11% by the end of the 21st century. And some scientists say wind speeds will increase by about 5% for every degree Celsius increase in ocean temperature. Others disagree; a meteorologist at the National Hurricane Center says hurricane winds are unlikely ever to top 200mph. In 1998, scientists calculated maximum hurricane wind speeds of 190mph based on current environmental conditions. But regardless of how strong their winds can or will get, no hurricane will ever be stronger than a Category 5. That's because the Saffir-Simpson scale has no Category 6. A Category 5 hurricane is one that has wind speeds of 156mph or more. Robert Simpson says he didn't go higher than Category 5 when creating the scale because at that point potential damage is all the same. “At 5 ... you already have catastrophic damage,” Dennis Feltgen at the National Hurricane Center tells WDBO. “It’s done.”