AccuWeather meteorologists are tracking two high-risk areas across the Atlantic basin that will contend to become the next ...

Hurricane Erin raced from a Category 1 to a Category 5 storm. If Erin keeps ramping up, is there a Category 6?

Although the storm is expected to stay offshore, it will produce dangerous surf conditions for much of the Atlantic Coast ...

Hurricane Erin moves offshore but still threatens East Coast with dangerous surf, rip currents, and tropical winds. This live blog is now closed.

If a storm is a Category 3, 4 or 5, it is deemed a "major" hurricane due to the potential for "significant loss of life and ...

The longstanding hurricane rating system, the Saffir-Simpson Scale, only takes into account sustained wind speeds and not the ...

Hurricane Erin was creating potentially deadly water conditions all along the East Coast days before the largest waves are ...

Let's break it down. Big Picture -What It Measures: As the name implies, the current version is strictly a wind scale that rates a hurricane's sustained winds (not gusts) from Category 1 through 5.

Following a hurricane at a CATEGORY 4, most of an area will be “uninhabitable” for anywhere between weeks or months. CATEGORY 5: This is the highest category on the Saffir-Simpson wind scale.

Some fluctuations in intensity are expected over the next couple of days due to inner-core structural changes.

"The Saffir-Simpson scale is a measure of wind speed. But far more people die from hurricane flooding than from strong winds. Hurricane Florence made landfall near Wilmington as a Category 1 storm.