What Are The Hurricane Categories [5 Categories Explained]

Hurricanes are a common natural calamity whose strength is measured in terms of categories. They’re derived from the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale, which categorizes them into five different categories based on their strength and the extent of damage they can potentially cause. These hurricane categories start from Category 1 and go up to Category 5.

Jackery Solar Generators are a reliable backup power supply during an emergency or when a calamity like a hurricane leads to a power outage. Solar generators can be used both at home or even carried with you if you’re asked to evacuate during a hurricane. They can charge devices like smartphones, radios, and a CPAP machine.

Key Takeaways

This section offers a quick overview of the important points this guide discusses:

• Hurricanes are categorized by high-speed winds, torrential downpours, and storm surges.
• According to the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale, hurricanes are divided into five key categories.
• Creating a comprehensive evacuation plan is crucial to ensure your safety when you face a hurricane.
• While there are five categories, some notable scientists have also discussed adding a sixth category to the scale, considering the worsening nature of hurricanes in recent years.
• A Jackery Solar Generator can provide the backup power supply you need to charge smartphones and other emergency appliances.  

Latest News About Hurricanes in the US

While the tropics in and around the US are quiet and calm for now, there’s always a possibility that hurricane activity could ramp up over the season, said Alex DaSilva, the lead hurricane expert at AccuWeather.

The origin of most tropical storms is typically off the eastern coast of the US between July 11 and July 20. The National Hurricane Center is also tracking four tropical waves: Tropical Wave 1, moving west in the eastern Atlantic; Tropical Wave 2, moving west in the central Atlantic; Tropical Wave 3, moving west in the central Caribbean; and Tropical Wave 4, moving west in the western Caribbean.

The US will also be impacted by more major hurricanes in the years to come. The most recent was Hurricane Beryl, a Category 1 hurricane that left nearly a million offices and homes without power.

Hurricane Categories

As the introduction describes, the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale divides hurricanes into five key categories based on the extent of the potential damage they can cause. Typically, hurricanes above Category 3 are described as major hurricanes with higher wind speeds and a higher potential for damage.

The high speeds of a hurricane’s winds can lead to loss of life and property and, in some cases, floods and tornadoes. The table below describes these five key hurricane categories based on their wind speeds, categories, and the damage they can cause.

Notable Hurricanes for Different Categories

Hurricanes are a rather common natural calamity, with the Atlantic and East Pacific Hurricane seasons being particularly active. This season typically runs from June 1 to November 30, and based on 30 years between 1991 and 2020, it brought with it an average of 14 named storms, 7 hurricanes, and 3 major hurricanes.

Here are some of the most notable hurricanes in each of the five categories:

Category 1

• Hurricane Humberto (2007):The first major hurricane after Hurricane Wilma in 2005, Humberto clocked highest wind speeds of about 90 mph. It led to 5 single-family homes being destroyed, 22 being majorly damaged, and 49 being minorly damaged.

Category 2

• Hurricane Ike (2008):This hurricane clocked wind speeds of just about 115 mph, with winds persisting for 9 hours. It led to 103 people losing their lives and caused an estimated $19.3 billion in damage overall.

Category 3

• Hurricane Alicia (1983):What started as a storm just south of Louisiana turned into a Category 3 hurricane. About 23 tornadoes were reported during Hurricane Alicia. 21 people died, 25 were hospitalized, and 2,094 were left injured or became ill.

Category 4

• Hurricane Harvey (2017):Hurricane Harvey was a Category 4 hurricane that saw winds at speeds of 130 mph. It likely resulted in about 70 fatalities and ended the 12-year streak of the US having no major hurricanes after Wilma in 2005.

Category 5

• Hurricane Andrew (1992):Hurricane Andrew is amongst the most notable Category 5 hurricanes to hit the United States. It cost its economy about $25 billion and caused about 26 direct deaths and 39 indirect deaths.

Should There Be a Category 6 for Hurricanes?

The effects of climate change over the years have seen a trend where hurricanes are crossing Category 5 wind speeds and becoming increasingly dangerous. Scientists Michael Wahner and James Kossin proposed adding a sixth Category to the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale.

In an interview with CBS News, the two scientists stated that five major hurricanes since 2013 have far surpassed the wind speeds of Category 5, with the deadliest of these being Hurricane Patricia in 2015. The NOAA even reported that Hurricane Patricia saw wind speeds up to 215 mph.

In this context, there’s an active debate about whether or not the Saffir-Simpson scale should add a Category 6 to account for these increasingly dangerous hurricanes.

What Category is Hurricane Idalia?

Hurricane Idalia struck Florida, causing major damage in the northern part of the state. What started as an area of disturbed weather over the eastern Pacific and Central America on August 23, 2023, made landfall over Keaton Beach in Florida on August 29 as a Category 4 hurricane.

How to Prepare for a Hurricane

Hurricanes are some of the most destructive natural disasters, with damage from high wind speeds, heavy rainfall, the potential to result in tornadoes, and rain-induced flooding. As a result, preparing for these requires a systematic approach. This section gives you a detailed breakdown of the steps you need to take to prepare for a hurricane.

How to Strengthen Your Home

The first step when preparing for a hurricane is to strengthen your home. Here are a few key things you must do:

• Trim Trees: Regularly trim the trees around your home, especially when you know there’s a storm coming. This will prevent your home or windows from being damaged by broken branches.
• Board Doors and Windows: High wind speeds carry all kinds of debris with them, which can break through windows and cause major harm if they hit someone. As a result, you must be ready with strong materials to board up your windows.
• Remove Loose Furniture: Any loose furniture on your deck or patio must be brought inside your house. High wind speeds can carry these pieces around, causing serious damage and harm.
• Secure All Doors: Secure all the doors in your property, with a specific focus on your garage door, as this is typically the most vulnerable.
• Park Your Car Inside Your Garage: If you have a car or a vehicle, park it inside your garage or in a secure location so that it sustains the least possible damage. However, you should prefer parking it in your garage so you can use it to evacuate if necessary.

Emergency Communication Plan

Creating an emergency communication plan is very important during a hurricane. You’ll need to keep up with any alerts and emergency broadcasts and stay in touch with your loved ones. Here’s how you can do this:

• Stay Informed:Sign up for emergency alerts from the government to ensure you’re keeping track of all major updates.
• Use Your TV:Tune into your television to track all alerts and information released by your local body or government authorities.
• Point of Contact:Designate an individual as a point of contact for everyone in your family if you need to evacuate your home. However, only do so if your local authorities tell you to.
• Social Media:Use social media to stay in touch with your loved ones and follow your local authorities for updates and alerts.

Emergency Supplies

Any emergency requires creating a bug-out bag containing all your essential emergency supplies. Here’s what your bag should include:

• Water:Your basic kit should contain one gallon of water per person per day, enough to last several days.
• Food:You should have an adequate food supply for several days. Ensure that the food items are non-perishable.
• Radio:Always keep a radio handy to tune into emergency broadcasts and follow alerts.
• Medicines:Include all basic medication in your kit and any prescription medication any individual in your family may require. You should also consider any medical equipment, such as a CPAP machine or a ventilator, that someone in your family requires.
• Power Backup:You should have some power backup options to run your appliances in case of a power outage and charge your devices. A Jackery Solar Generator can be a good option to consider. These solar generators are portable and can be used in your home or your bug-out vehicle if you need to evacuate your home.
• Flashlight:Carry a flashlight with extra batteries if you need visibility during a power outage.
• N-95 or Dust Mask:Carry adequate N-95 masks for each family member to ensure you don’t breathe in any contaminated air.
• Communication Devices:Carry your smartphones, radios, and laptops along with their respective chargers with you, and keep these ready in case you need to evacuate your home. You can easily charge these using a solar generator when you need to.

Evacuation Plan

Creating an evacuation plan is critical. When local authorities ask you to evacuate, you likely won’t have more than a few minutes. So, you must ensure that every family member is well acquainted with your evacuation plan and knows what to do when asked to leave.

Here’s what your plan should consist of:

• Keep Up With Alerts:The safest time to evacuate is when your local authorities ask you. The key to this is to keep up with alerts and evacuation orders via the radio, the news on TV, or official government social media handles.
• Evacuation Routes:Create at least two evacuation routes in your home and rehearse each one with every family member so they remember it well during an emergency.
• Leave Immediately When Told To:When you’re ordered to do so, you must leave immediately without delay. As a result, you’ll need to ensure that your bug-out bag or emergency kit is ready in your vehicle so you can immediately evacuate with all your supplies.
• Communicate:Keep someone outside the region affected by the hurricane updated with every part of your evacuation plan so they can contact rescue services if ever needed.
• Plan for Every Location:In your evacuation plan, account for each frequently visited place, whether it’s your kid’s school or your place of work.
• Plan for Pets:If you have any pets, plan for their evacuation, including their carriers, important documents, and adequate food and water in your bug-out bag.

Insurance

Checking and updating your insurance policies is critical before a hurricane, as this ensures you’re covered for any damage to your property or even any harm or injury caused to your family.

• Check Policy Coverage:Check your insurance policy to see what scenarios it covers, and update it if something is missing.
• Get Flood Insurance:Floods are the major cause of property damage, and getting insurance that covers this can save you from costly repairs after a hurricane. gov is a useful resource that shows you the flood risk in your area and the insurance policies you can choose from.
• Prepare Your Home and Vehicles:Ensure that you prepare your home and vehicles based on the prerequisites of your insurance policy to ensure that you face no challenges when filing an insurance claim after a hurricane.
• Carry Insurance Documents:Keep all your insurance documents safe and carry them with you if you’re asked to evacuate your home.

Important Documents and Items

When dealing with a devastating natural calamity, keeping all your important documents safe and ready in your bug-out bag is essential. These include all your medical, financial, and insurance-related documents.

If you have pets, keep all their documents handy, as these will help you when you need to file insurance claims, access medical services, and so on.

Pets and Livestock

Aside from your property, you’ll also have to create a plan for any pets and livestock you may have. Here are a few tips you can consider:

• Create a Buddy System:Create a plan with a neighbor, friend, or family member to take care of your pets if you cannot.
• Create an Evacuation Plan:You must create an evacuation plan for your pet during a natural disaster or another such emergency, particularly since many public places and hotels don’t allow pets.
• Get Your Pets Microchipped:Microchipping your pets allows someone to access your contact details and address if you lose your pet in the chaos of a disaster.
• Build a Kit:Ensure that your pet's emergency kit has adequate food and water for several days, any medication they need, important documents, grooming and sanitation items, and so on.
• Large Animals:Ensure that all your animals have some form of identification, plan evacuation routes along with provisions to keep them safe in an emergency, and ensure that you arrange for any trailers needed to transport your livestock in the event of a disaster.

Jackery Solar Generators for Emergencies

Jackery is one of the most popular and well-reputed brands of solar generators, portable power stations, and solar panels in the market. The Jackery Solar Generators combine Jackery Portable Power Stations and Jackery SolarSaga Solar Panels. The solar panels absorb the sun’s rays when placed under direct sunlight. The solar energy is converted to DC, which then passes through the pure sine wave inverter in the portable power station. This converts DC to AC.

The solar generators are highly portable and can be used as a power backup option for your home during an emergency. You can also fold the solar panels and wheel the portable power station outdoors if you need to evacuate your home during a hurricane.

Jackery Solar Generator 3000 Pro

The Jackery Solar Generator 3000 Pro is a large-capacity solar generator offering enough capacity to run most household appliances. This solar generator is functional in extreme temperatures and can be charged via solar charging and a wall charger. If you’d like, you can use it as a regular power backup option for your home. Alternatively, you can carry the setup in your bug-out vehicle if the authorities ask you to evacuate.

Appliances Running Time:

• Light (20W)  = 128.5H
• Smartphone (29W) = 88.6H
• Refrigerator (520W) = 4.9H
• Laptop (70W) = 36.7H
• TV (60W) = 42.8H

Customer Review:

“I recently got an in-home consultation for a built-in generator estimate. While I wanted to prepare for hurricane season, I was not ready to pay $15K for a generator and installation. The Jackery 3000 Pro with solar panels meets our needs and is much more economical, easy to use, and convenient to store.” - Mark.

Jackery Solar Generator 2000 Plus

The Jackery Solar Generator 2000 Plus is another worthy solar generator with more than sufficient capacity. It’s also expandable, making it ideal for various scenarios, such as extended blackouts or long periods off the grid. You can add a battery pack and more solar panels to increase the capacity from 2kWh to 24kWh. This way, you can expand it based on your needs at home and carry it with you in case you need to evacuate during a hurricane.

Appliances Running Time:

• Light (20W)  = 86.8H
• Smartphone (29W) = 59.8H
• Refrigerator (520W) = 3.3H
• Laptop (70W) = 24.8H
• TV (60W) = 28.9H

Customer Review:

“This electricity collection and storage system is impressive. Such a small box can hold 2000 watts of electricity. The 200-watt solar panels are simple to set up and adjust for maximum solar collection.” - Jack.

Jackery Solar Generator 1000 v2

The Jackery Solar Generator 1000 V2 is a small yet portable solar generator that can run some of your important appliances and charge your devices. It can run appliances like portable air conditioners, kettles, and even refrigerators. Given how portable the system is, you can use it as a power backup option for your home or even if you’re evacuating during an emergency.

Appliances Running Time:

• Light (20W)  = 45.4H
• Smartphone (29W) = 31.3H
• Refrigerator (520W) = 1.7H
• Laptop (70W) = 12.9H
• TV (60W) = 15.1H

Customer Review:

“I bought the Explorer 1000 v2 for a long road trip as an emergency tool. Well, it didn't take long to figure out I could plug in a small fan and clip it to the back seat and keep the dogs in their crates cool in the cargo area. That's something I can use all year round, and make sure the a/c or heat circulates properly.” - Susan.

What To Do During Category 1-5 Hurricanes

All hurricane categories result in different wind speeds and different degrees of potential damage. As a result, the precautions you need to take for each category also vary. This section explains the precautions to take for each category in detail.

Category 1

A Category 1 hurricane results in minimal damage. Here are the precautions you should take during one:

• Board your windows to keep them safe from flying debris and high-speed winds. Plywood is an inexpensive option that you can cut to size.
• Inspect your home’s exteriors and remove any objects that could go airborne during a hurricane.
• Keep flashlights handy, as you could face power outages. A Jackery Solar Generator can also be a good option.

Category 2

Category 2 hurricanes are those that cause moderate damage. Here’s what you need to do to stay safe during one:

• Every family member must have a bug-out bag with essentials like food, water, medicines, and other essentials like a first aid kit, basic tools, etc.
• Board up all your windows and doors with plywood to prevent them from breaking due to airborne debris.
• Reinforce your roof to withstand high winds.
• If you live in a mobile home, shut off your gas and electricity and be prepared to evacuate immediately.

Category 3

Category 3 hurricanes often cause extensive damage and are characterized by higher winds that lead to heavy rains. Here is what you must do during a Category 3 hurricane:

• Have a well-rehearsed evacuation plan in place. It should include at least two evacuation routes and a proper communication plan, and you must keep someone outside the area of the hurricane informed of your plan.
• Pack all your essentials and keep enough supplies for a few weeks. Category 3 hurricanes often require extended evacuations. Depending on the extent of the damage, it might take weeks before you can go back home.
• Seal your home and board all your doors and windows to ensure minimal damage while away.
• Drain your water heater before you leave. The large quantities of water they hold can damage your home if they leak.

Category 4

Category 4 hurricanes cause extreme damage, leading to curtain wall failures, roofing failures for many structures, and the destruction of lighter, mobile homes. Here’s what you should do in this situation:

• Secure your home and get out of town as soon as you can.
• Pack enough essentials for a few weeks away from home. Review your list multiple times to ensure you don’t miss any supplies.
• Keep all your doors and windows locked and boarded up, as you could also be susceptible to theft while you’re away.
• Designate a safe room in your house where you can take refuge if you’re staying home. This is usually the innermost room.

Category 5

A Category 5 hurricane is the most destructive and leads to catastrophic damage. They lead to the total failure of structures, making evacuation the only option in such a scenario. Here’s what you should do if you face a Category 5 hurricane:

• Monitor the hurricane while it’s still at sea and evacuate. It’s not worth staying home during a Category 5 hurricane.
• Ensure all your bags are packed and you have planned your evacuation down to the last detail.
• Evacuate sooner to avoid getting stuck when evacuation routes get jammed.
• Once you’re out of danger, use a radio or any other communication device to monitor updates about the hurricane.