If a storm is a Category 3, 4 or 5, it is deemed a "major" hurricane due to the potential for "significant loss of life and ...

The longstanding hurricane rating system, the Saffir-Simpson Scale, only takes into account sustained wind speeds and not the ...

Erin continues to grow in size, trying to restrengthen to a category 3 hurricane before passing to our east. At 11pm, the center of Hurricane Erin was located near latitude 32.8 North, longitude 73.1 ...

Although the storm is expected to stay offshore, it will produce dangerous surf conditions for much of the Atlantic Coast ...

Following a hurricane at a CATEGORY 4, most of an area will be “uninhabitable” for anywhere between weeks or months. CATEGORY 5: This is the highest category on the Saffir-Simpson wind scale.

Let's break it down. Big Picture -What It Measures: As the name implies, the current version is strictly a wind scale that rates a hurricane's sustained winds (not gusts) from Category 1 through 5.

A major hurricane is classified as a Category 3 or higher on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale. This means the storm has sustained winds of 111 miles per hour or greater.

In a study, Michael Wehner, PhD, and the Berkeley Lab found that the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale fails to tell the full story of higher wind speeds. "The strongest storms are getting ...

"The Saffir-Simpson scale is a measure of wind speed. But far more people die from hurricane flooding than from strong winds. Hurricane Florence made landfall near Wilmington as a Category 1 storm.

Klotzbach presented on Tuesday at the National Hurricane Conference where he said pressure correlates better with hurricane damage than wind – which is what the Saffir-Simpson Scale identifies.

Hurricane Erin reached the maximum intensity on the Saffir-Simpson scale last Saturday (16), becoming a category 5 storm with winds of up to 260 km/h (161 mph).