Hurricane Milton didn't reach 'Category 6.' There's no such thing | Fact check

The claim: Hurricane Milton reached ‘Category 6’ strength

An Oct. 8 Threads post ( direct link , archive link ) claims a hurricane reached a new level of intensity as it approached Florida.

“Hurricane Milton is now a Category 6,” the post’s text states.

Versions of the claim circulated widely on Threads and on Instagram , with one receiving more than 6,000 likes in two days .

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Our rating: False

There is no “Category 6” on the five-level Saffir-Simpson scale. While a sixth tier has been discussed in hypothetical terms, it is not a real measurement of hurricane severity in 2024.

Category 5 tops Saffir-Simpson scale

For the second time in two weeks , Florida is bracing for a major hurricane . Hurricane Helene made landfall in the state on Sept. 26 causing widespread damage, and now Hurricane Milton, a Category 4 storm , is barreling toward Tampa and other cities along the Gulf Coast. It was expected to make landfall late on Oct. 9.

But at no point was Milton classified as a “Category 6” hurricane. That classification does not exist.

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The National Hurricane Center measures the intensity of hurricanes with the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale , which assigns a rating of 1-5 to hurricanes based on their maximum sustained wind speeds and the projected damage they may cause. The most extreme, Category 5, carries winds of 157 mph or higher and may cause damage described as "catastrophic ."

The scale was last updated in 2012 to add 1 mph to the end of each wind speed range, and the National Weather Service has said it has no plans to change it .

While researchers have spoken in hypothetical terms about the addition of “Category 6," that designation is not a recognized measure of hurricane severity. Scientists who in February published a study examining the topic did not propose adding a sixth category but rather hoped to “inform broader discussions” about communicating risk, study co-author Jim Kossin told USA TODAY in February. Experts say extending the scale would be a long process involving many partnerships.

One of the scale’s developers, Robert Simpson, called the possibility of extending it past Category 5 "immaterial " because sustained winds in excess of 155 mph are “going to cause rupturing damages that are serious no matter how well (a structure is) engineered.”

Other versions of this Category 6 claim wrongly assert that Milton would be the “first ever Category 6” hurricane with sustained winds of 192 mph. The study published in February found five hurricanes and typhoons since 1980 that had sustained winds that high. Hurricane Patricia set a record with sustained winds of 215 mph before hitting southwest Mexico as a Category 4 storm in 2015.

USA TODAY reached out to several social media users who shared the claim but did not immediately receive responses.

Check Your Fact debunked a version of the claim.

Our fact-check sources:

• National Hurricane Center, accessed Oct. 9, Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale
• National Hurricane Center, March 1, 2012, Public Information Statement
• National Weather Service, accessed Oct. 9, Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale
• Naples Daily News, Feb. 14, Do we need a Category 6 hurricane classification? Some say yes, others warn of confusion
• USA TODAY, Oct. 8, Could Milton become a Category 6 hurricane? Is that even possible?
• USA TODAY, Feb. 5, ' Category 5' was considered the worst hurricane. There's something scarier, study says.
• Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, Feb. 5, The growing inadequacy of an open-ended Saffir–Simpson hurricane wind scale in a warming world
• National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, April 1999, Mariners Weather Log
• The Weather Channel, Oct. 22, 2018, Three Years Ago, Hurricane Patricia Became the Record Strongest Hurricane in the Western Hemisphere With 215 MPH Winds

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Hurricane Milton didn't reach 'Category 6.' There's no such thing | Fact check