It's Hurricane Season!

7/26/2022 (Permalink)

Satellite Image of Large Hurricane Over the East Coast.

Know Your Hurricane Categories

It’s officially hurricane season. For those of us who are fascinated with weather it’s a time when we watch weather reports the way other people watch the sports news. 

Hurricane season starts on June 1^st and ends on November 30^th. Even though there are 6 months dedicated to hurricane season, storms can form at any time of the year! Since 1851, there have been 92 storms recorded outside of hurricane season, including several that happened on Christmas!

Here in New Jersey, we’re slightly removed from the effects of major hurricanes, but that doesn’t mean the Garden State is in the clear!

Here is a useful reference guide to put the different hurricane categories into perspective:

Tropical Storm

• Tropical storms have a wide range of speeds, anywhere from 39-73 mph. (anything lower than 38 mph is considered a tropical depression).
• That's about the range of speeds that you'll use when driving down 295, depending on the time of day.
• July 8–9, 2021 – Tropical Storm Elsa moved up the east coast of the United States, bringing heavy rain and gusty winds to NJ overnight through the morning of July 9. Elsa spawned two tornadoes here as well.

Category 1

• Category 1 hurricanes have a wind speed of 74–95 mph.
• Major league pitchers are usually within this range for their fastballs.
• The last category 1 hurricane to hit New Jersey was Hurricane Earl in 2010 (Earl was a cat 4 at its peak).  

Category 2

• Category 2 hurricanes have a speed of 96–110 mph.
• That's roughly the speed of a human sneeze. (Who knew!)
• The last cat 2 hurricane to hit the US was Hurricane Sally in Sept 2020.

 Category 3

• Category 3 hurricanes go about 111–129 mph.
• That’s equivalent to the top speed of a red tailed hawk.
• The last category 3 Atlantic hurricane was Larry in Aug/Sept of 2021.

Category 4

• Category 4 hurricanes travel at 130–156 mph.
• That's around the top speed of the USA’s fastest train, the Amtrak Acela Express.
• The last cat 4 hurricane to impact the East Coast was Hurricane Ida in Aug/Sept 2021.

Category 5

• Category 5 hurricanes have winds 157 mph or faster.
• The top (sustained!) windspeed ever recorded for an Atlantic hurricane was Hurricane Dorian at 185 mph in 2019.
• The peregrine falcon can dive at a speeds near 200mph!

What is different about SERVPRO is knowing that no matter how big or how small a storm is, there is a nation-wide team of franchises ready to respond in the moment of crisis. So even though we aren’t all hit by hurricanes, we’re all here to help those who are.

We are all “Ready for whatever happens”.