The Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale Explained
From grocery stores to neighborhoods,a hurricane's category might be among the most discussed aspects of a threatening storm.
Those categories are based on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale,which is one tool for assessing the intensity of a hurricane,but it's important to know what it means in terms of wind impacts,as well as what it doesn't mean. 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. For a storm to reach the Category 1 threshold,its winds must be at least 74 mph. Major hurricanes,Category 3 or higher on the scale,have winds above 110 mph. Rare Category 5 hurricanes pack maximum winds of 157 mph or higher.
-What It Doesn't Measure: Storm surge,flooding rainfall or tornado impacts. Storm surge was previously quantified by the categories,but that was eliminated in 2010 given the complex nature of that particular impact.
-Damage Type By Category: In general,wind damage rises by about a factor of four for every category increase. According to the National Hurricane Center,that ranges from "some damage"in a Category 1 to "extensive damage"in a Category 2,"devastating damage"in a Category 3 and "catastrophic damage"in Category 4 and 5 hurricanes.
Deeper Dive
-History Shows You Should Not Focus Just On The Wind Category:That's because water-related impacts like storm surge and flooding rainfall,not wind,are historically deadlier impacts. 85% of deaths from tropical cyclones in the U.S. have historically been caused by rainfall flooding,storm surge,rip currents,high surf and marine incidents,based on National Hurricane Center 2013-23 statistics.
-Storm Surge Lesson Learned: Hurricane Ike in 2008 made landfall in Texas as a Category 2,but packed a much higher storm surge than you might suspect a hurricane of that wind intensity could produce. That's because it was very large,allowing it to build up storm surge heights of 15 to 20 feet,which then leveled most structures on Texas's Bolivar Peninsula.
-Flooding Rainfall Lessons Learned: Tropical storms can create more rainfall flood damage than major Category 3-plus hurricanes in some cases. Tropical Storm Imelda in September 2019 produced over 30 inches of rain in southeast Texas,triggering widespread flooding. The damage estimate was $6.2 billion (2025 dollars),according to NOAA. Another famous example is Tropical Storm Allison in 2001,which caused massive flooding in southeast Texas,including Houston,resulting in $15.1 billion (2025 dollars) in damage and killing 43 people.
More To Know
-Category 5 Hurricanes Are Rare: There have been just 42 recorded in the Atlantic Basin since 1924,according to NOAA's historical database. It's even rarer to have two in a season like we saw in 2024 with Beryl in the Caribbean in July,and Milton in the Gulf in October.
-Where Did The Scale Come From? It first came into use more than 50 years ago and is named for its developers,Herbert Saffir,a consulting engineer who lived in Florida,and Dr. Robert Simpson,who was then director of the National Hurricane Center. The earliest published versions of the scale date to 1972.
Chris Dolce has been a senior digital meteorologist with www.weathernow24.com for nearly 15 years after beginning his career with Weather Now 24 in the early 2000s.
