Search results
Results From The WOW.Com Content Network
The classifications can provide some indication of the potential damage and flooding a hurricane will cause upon landfall. The Saffir–Simpson hurricane wind scale is based on the highest wind speed averaged over a one-minute interval 10 m above the surface.
A Category 4 hurricane has winds of 113 to 136 kn (130 to 157 mph; 209 to 252 km/h), while a Category 5 hurricane has winds of at least 137 kn (158 mph; 254 km/h). [1] [3] A post tropical cyclone is a system that has weakened, into a remnant low or has dissipated and formal advisories are usually discontinued at this stage. [1]
A Category 5 Atlantic hurricane is a tropical cyclone that reaches Category 5 intensity on the Saffir–Simpson hurricane wind scale, within the Atlantic Ocean to the north of the equator. They are among the strongest tropical cyclones that can form on Earth, having 1-minute sustained wind speeds of at least 137 knots (254 km/h ; 158 mph ; 70 m ...
Hurricane categories. Category 1: Winds 74-95 mph. Damage primarily to shrubbery, trees, poorly constructed items, and unanchored mobile homes. Category 2: Winds 96-110 mph. Some roof damage ...
On the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale, a major hurricane means a Category 3 or higher. The scale includes five categories based on the storm's sustained wind speeds.
Hurricane Mitch, a Category 5 hurricane with a central pressure of 906 mb and sustained winds of 195 mph, captured with GOES-8 on Oct. 26, 1998. (NOAA/NESDIS Operational Significant Event Imagery)
Owing to their intensity, the strongest Atlantic hurricanes have all attained Category 5 classification. Hurricane Opal, the most intense Category 4 hurricane recorded, intensified to reach a minimum pressure of 916 mbar (hPa; 27.05 inHg), [54] a pressure typical of Category 5 hurricanes. [55]
But the storm could reach the level of a hypothetical Category 6 − and further stir debate about whether the National Hurricane Center’s long-used scale for classifying hurricane wind speeds ...