Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale

With news of hurricanes and tropical storms in the Atlantic making their way to North America, it is a great time to write about the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale.

The scale is based on the wind speed of the hurricane at the given time. The scale is broken down below. A general rule of thumb is that each additional level on the scale will do four times more damage.

Level	Wind Speed (Miles Per Hour)	Storm Surge (Feet)
Tropical Depression	Up to 38	0
Tropical Storm	39-73	Up to 3 feet
1	74-95	4-5
2	96-110	6-8
3	111-130	9-12
4	131-155	13-18
5	Anything past 156	Anything past 19

Fox News provides a great graphical depiction of the damage each level can do.