Hurricane categories: How many hurricane categories are there, and what do they mean?

Hurricane Melissa, active in October 2025, swept across the Caribbean with enormous force, causing catastrophic damage, particularly in Jamaica. According to the National Hurricane Center, Melissa reached wind speeds equivalent to a Category 5 hurricane.

As Melissa moved towards Cuba, the US National Hurricane Center (NHC) downgraded it to Category 3 – still dangerous, but no longer “maximally destructive”.

But how many hurricane categories are there actually – and what exactly do they mean?

The classification is based on the so-called Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale, which is used by the National Hurricane Center. This scale distinguishes five categories based on the maximum wind speed of a storm.

• 119–153 km/h – Minor structural damage possible
• Water level rise: 1.2–1.6 m
• Air pressure: over 980 hPa
• Winds of this strength are already considered very dangerous and can cause noticeable damage.
• Well-built houses can lose parts of their roof tiles, gutters, or facade cladding.
• Large branches break off, and shallow-rooted trees can topple over. Power outages are also frequent – ​​they usually last for several days.

• 154–177 km/h – Significant destruction possible
• Water level rise: 1.7 - 2.5 m
• Air pressure: 965 - 979 hPa
• A Category 2 hurricane brings extremely strong winds that can cause major damage to buildings.
• Roofs and facades are more severely affected, many trees are uprooted and block roads.
• Typically, this results in widespread power outages that can last from several days to weeks.

• 178–208 km/h (“Major Hurricane”) – Severe damage, power outages and uninhabitable buildings are likely
• Water level rise: 2.6 - 3.7 m
• Air pressure: 945-964 hPa
• The destruction is massive: Even solidly built houses can lose parts of their roof or gable.
• Many trees are uprooted, making entire sections of road impassable.
• Power and water supplies often fail for weeks – the affected areas need a long time to recover.
• Flooding near the coast.

• (209–251 km/h) – Catastrophic damage
• Water level rise: 3.8 - 5.4 m
• Air pressure: 920 - 944 hPa
• Even well-built houses can lose large sections of their roof structure or entire walls. Almost all trees and power lines are knocked down, and residential areas are isolated.
• Power and water outages last for weeks to months; many regions are temporarily uninhabitable.
• Coastal areas that lie less than 3m above sea level will be flooded.

• From 252 km/h – the highest level on the scale represents absolute destructive power.
• Water level rise: more than 5.5 m
• Air pressure: less than 920 hPa
• A large part of the buildings is completely destroyed; roofs and walls collapse.
• Trees, power lines and entire road networks are destroyed; large areas are no longer accessible.
• Restoring infrastructure can take months, and affected regions often remain uninhabitable for weeks.
• Coastal areas lower than 5m above sea level are flooded up to 16km inland.

The five levels are used to assess the danger and destructive potential of a hurricane based on wind speed. The scale was developed in the 1970s and has become internationally accepted.

Category 3 and above is officially referred to as a "Major Hurricane", meaning a particularly dangerous storm that may require large-scale evacuations.

In recent years, there has been increasing discussion about whether a Category 6 storm should be introduced – primarily because storms like Melissa or previous superhurricanes reach wind speeds far exceeding previous values. Currently, however, meteorological institutes officially recognize only five categories.

Besides the well-known Saffir-Simpson scale, which classifies hurricanes in the Atlantic and Northeast Pacific into five categories, other systems for assessing tropical cyclones exist worldwide.

• In the western Pacific, meteorologists refer to typhoons, which are classified by organizations such as the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) or the Joint Typhoon Warning Center (JTWC) – often with names like Tropical Storm , Severe Tropical Storm , Typhoon or Super Typhoon .
• In the Indian Ocean and the South Pacific, regional scales are used, such as those of the India Meteorological Department (IMD) or the Australian Bureau of Meteorology (BoM), which describe storms as Tropical Cyclone , Severe Tropical Cyclone or Super Cyclonic Storm .
• Also of historical significance is the Beaufort scale, which describes wind speeds from 0 (calm) to 12 (hurricane) and serves as the basis for many modern systems.

Despite their different names, all scales pursue the same goal: assessing the storm's intensity and the potential danger to the population and infrastructure.