What Do Hurricane Categories Actually Mean?
By Abigail Abrams and Chad de GuzmanUpdated: October 8, 2024 9:44 AM EDT | Originally published: September 19, 2017 5:30 PM EDT
Hurricane Milton is barreling toward Florida, where it is projected to make landfall Wednesday night.
The storm has been downgraded to a Category 4 hurricane, but the National Hurricane Center (NHC) warns that Milton is still “extremely dangerous,” bringing intense storm surges that could cause catastrophic flooding along the coast and beyond. The hurricane is currently measuring maximum sustained winds near 145 miles per hour, with wind gusts that are even stronger, according to the NHC.
But what do meteorologists and news anchors actually mean when they talk about hurricane categories, like Category 1, Category 3, or Category 5?
Most people simply want to know how much water and wind to expect, and what a hurricane will mean for their safety. Hurricane categories can’t predict everything about a storm, but categories do give an indication of how a hurricane will affect people and property in its path.
https://time.com/4946730/hurricane-categories/
