What category is Hurricane Milton? How hurricanes are measured
The 2024 hurricane season has less than one month left, but is still whipping up major storms, with another dangerous one forecast to hit Florida this week.
On Oct. 7, Hurricane Milton intensified to a Category 5 storm north of the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico, reaching maximum winds of 180 mph before weakening slightly to a Category 4 as of Oct. 8.
During that time, it became the strongest storm of the 2024 hurricane season.
The storm is heading for the west coast of Florida, sparking evacuations around Tampa. It is forecasted to make landfall early on Oct. 10 as a strong Category 3 storm.
How are hurricanes categorized?
Hurricanes are measured in Categories 1 to 5, with 1 being the weakest on the scale and 5 being the strongest. Any storm that reaches Category 3 or higher is considered a "major hurricane."
Categories are based on maximum sustained wind speeds. Once a tropical storm reaches sustained wind speeds of 74 mph, it becomes a Category 1 hurricane.
Here are the sustained wind speed ranges for each category:
Category 1: 74-95 mph
Category 2: 96-110 mph
Category 3: 111-129 mph
Category 4: 130-156 mph
Category 5: 157 mph or more
What is the strongest hurricane to make landfall in the United States?
In 1935, the "Labor Day" hurricane made landfall as a Category 5, with winds around 180 mph.
Hurricane Camille made landfall in Mississippi in 1965 as a Category 5 with winds around 175 mph.
Hurricane Andrew in 1992 flattened south Florida when it made landfall as a Category 5, with winds of 165 mph.
The most recent Category 5 landfall in the United States was Hurricane Michael, which arrived on the Florida panhandle on Oct. 2018 with winds of 161 mph.
What Category was Hurricane Katrina, Helene, Sandy and others?
Many of the costliest and deadliest hurricanes in American history did not make landfall as Category 5 storms.
Most recently, Hurricane Helene made landfall in Florida as a Category 4 storm on Sep. 27, 2024, and dumped over 10 inches of rain in parts of North Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee and more states in the Southeastern United States.
Hurricane Harvey in 2017 made landfall in Texas as a Category 4 and parked over Houston, resulting in deadly flooding.
Hurricane Katrina, the costliest hurricane in U.S. history, was Category 5 in the Gulf of Mexico before weakening to a Category 3 by landfall in Louisiana and causing mass destruction in the New Orleans area.
Hurricane Ian made landfall in Florida as a Category 4, causing over $100 billion in damage as it raced across the Florida Peninsula, similar to how Milton is forecasted.
Hurricane Maria struck Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands as a strong category 4 at 155 mph, resulting in widespread damage.
In the northeast, Superstorm Sandy made landfall near Atlantic City as a post-tropical cyclone, but still resulted in widespread damage from its storm surge in New York, New Jersey and Delaware.
Shane Brennan is a Delaware-based journalist.
This article originally appeared on Delaware News Journal: How storms like Hurricane Milton are categorized
