What scale measures a hurricane's potential damage from wind speed categories 1 to 5?

The scale that measures a hurricane’s wind-speed categories from 1 to 5 is the Saffir–Simpson scale.

More precisely, the Saffir–Simpson hurricane wind scale ranks hurricanes by maximum sustained wind speed measured over one minute at 10 meters above the surface. Category 1 begins at 74 miles per hour, or 64 knots, while Category 5 covers sustained winds of at least 157 miles per hour, or 137 knots.

Civil engineer Herbert Saffir developed the concept in 1969–1971, and meteorologist Robert Simpson helped refine it while directing the U.S. National Hurricane Center. It became widely known in the 1970s as a simple way to communicate wind-related risk. Since 2010, the operational scale has focused on wind rather than assigning official category values for pressure or storm surge.

A common mistake is assuming the scale predicts total damage. It does not account directly for rainfall, flooding, storm surge, storm size, construction quality, or population density. The Beaufort scale describes wind force generally, the Fujita family rates tornado damage, and the Richter scale concerns earthquakes.