When a hurricane threatens land, one of the top questions on people’s minds is what category is it, and that’s for good reason. Hurricanes are categorized by their wind speeds on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale, which provides useful information on the storm’s winds, their expected impact and potential damage.

Hurricane Helene was nearing the coast of Florida as a Category 3 storm on Thursday evening and was expected to make landfall as a Category 4.

Hurricanes are split into five categories based on the wind speeds they generate:

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