How big is Hurricane Helene? How are hurricane categories determined?
FLORIDA - Hurricane Helene is already a large storm in the Gulf of Mexico, and it's expected to grow larger and stronger before making landfall over Florida's Big Bend region on Thursday evening.
According to forecast projections, Helene is expected to become a major hurricane – a Category 3+ storm – before making landfall over Florida, which would have sustained winds of at least 111 mph.
Hurricanes are rated based on the Saffir-Simpson scale. Here's what that means.
A view of Hurricane Helene from the GOES-16 satellite on Wednesday, Sept. 25.
What do the hurricane categories mean? This is the Saffir-Simpson scale
You may hear weather forecasters or news headlines or officials refer to a hurricane as a Cat. 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5 storm, or perhaps as a "major hurricane." But, what does that mean?
Hurricanes are rated using the Saffir-Simpson scale, which measures storms solely based on their estimated sustained winds. A tropical storm has sustained winds of 39 to 73 mph. As soon as a system reaches sustained winds of 74 mph, it becomes a Category 1 hurricane. As those winds increase, the category rating grows higher.
- Category 1: 74-95 mph sustained winds
- Category 2: 96-110 mph sustained winds
- Category 3: 111-129 mph sustained winds
- Category 4: 130-156 mph sustained winds
- Category 5: 157 mph or greater sustained winds
It's important to note that the scale only takes into account sustained winds. It does not account for storm surge, rainfall, flooding, or tornadoes. And it takes one hurricane to significantly damage an area.
What is a "major hurricane?"
A "major hurricane" is considered to be any storm that is rated as a category 3, 4, or 5.
How big is Hurricane Helene?
According to the latest advisory, Hurricane Helene's hurricane-force winds extend up to 25 miles from the center, while tropical-storm-force winds extend up to 275 miles from the center.
For reference, the state of Florida is 361 miles wide at its widest points, from the Atlantic Ocean to the Perdidio River.
Helene is expected to be a Cat. 3 hurricane at landfall.
For comparison, Hurricane Debby, which made landfall near Steinhatchee, Florida, on Aug. 5, was a Category 1 hurricane. Hurricane Ian made landfall on Sept. 28 with 150 mph winds – 7 mph shy of a Cat. 5 storm – and
Already a historic storm
According to FOX 35's Noah Bergren, Helene is expected to be one of the largest storms in the Gulf of Mexico, based on its projected tropical storm winds.
