Editor's note: Read USA TODAY's coverage of Helene's landfall and impacts for Friday, Sept. 27. As monster storms like Helene approach the U.S., meteorologists use five categories to help signal the ...

Tropical systems begin as tropical depressions, which are areas of low pressure with wind speeds of up to 38 miles per hour. When those winds strengthen and reach between 39 and 73 miles per hour, the ...

When you hear terms like Category 1, Category 3 or even the rare Category 5 mentioned regarding hurricanes, what is being discussed is the classification system for hurricanes based on their winds.

AUSTIN (KXAN) — As hurricane season is quickly approaching, let’s remind you about the Saffir-Simpson hurricane wind scale. This scale is designed to categorize hurricanes based on wind speed and is ...

One was a structural engineer who thought in the ways engineers are trained to — logically and result-oriented. The other, was a meteorologist who, at age 6, had survived one of the deadliest ...

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, ...

As hurricane Ian came closer to the west coast, it reached peak intensity as *** cat five before landfall in 2019. Hurricane Dorian. Another category five monster with winds reaching 185 MPH tore ...

For the last few years, I have opined about the inadequacy of the Saffir — Simpson scale for conveying the full impacts of hurricanes. Harvey (2017), Milton (2024) and Helene (2024) are examples of ...