Estimate hurricane category from sustained wind speed using the Saffir-Simpson hurricane wind scale. Enter wind speed in mph, km/h, knots, or m/s to see the category, wind conversions, and general damage guidance.
Wind speed:
Enter the sustained wind speed from a forecast, advisory, or weather report.
Wind unit:
Select mph, km/h, knots, or meters per second.
Category result:
The calculator converts wind speed to mph and matches it to a hurricane category range.
Wind guidance:
The result includes converted wind speeds, category range, and general wind impact notes.
A hurricane category calculator is useful for comparing storm advisories, wind reports, forecast models, marine weather, emergency planning, and understanding the general wind strength of a tropical cyclone.
This calculator estimates category from wind speed only. Real hurricane danger also depends on storm surge, rainfall flooding, tornadoes, waves, tides, terrain, building strength, and evacuation orders.
Your result shows the estimated hurricane category based on sustained wind speed. Category 1 is the lowest hurricane category, while Category 5 is the highest. Tropical storm and tropical depression results are shown when the wind speed is below hurricane strength.
Category 1 starts at 74 mph sustained wind and goes through 95 mph.
Category 3 starts at 111 mph sustained wind and is considered a major hurricane category.
Category 5 starts at 157 mph sustained wind or higher.
No. Hurricane category is based on sustained wind speed only and does not include storm surge, flooding, rainfall, or tornado risk.