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

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

Hurricane Erin strengthens into a Category 5, as it moves north in the Atlantic; experts warn of potential dangerous (and ...

After rapidly growing to a Category 5 storm in the span of 24 hours, Hurricane Erin is now back to Category 3 on the ...

Hurricane Erin rapidly strengthened into a Category 5 storm. It is not expected to make a direct hit on the U.S. but will create dangerous surf.

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.

In a study, Michael Wehner, PhD, and the Berkeley Lab found that the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale fails to tell the full story of higher wind speeds. "The strongest storms are getting stronger.