When does a tropical depression become a tropical storm? And when does a tropical storm become a hurricane? What's the difference between a Category 1 and a Category 3 hurricane? It's all about ...

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, ...

Storm surge and rainfall — not wind — cause the majority of hurricane deaths, yet are absent from the current warning system. Researchers developed and tested the Tropical Cyclone Severity Scale, ...

Today is the 20th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina making landfall in Louisiana, which, although only classified as a Category 3 storm due to wind speeds, wreaked havoc as it brought with it enormous ...

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.