Ian is almost a Category 5 hurricane as it nears Florida – here’s what that means

Hurricane Ian was approaching the most-severe Category 5 classification Wednesday morning as the storm bore down on Florida’s Gulf Coast.

The Category 4 hurricane recorded sustained winds of 155 miles per hour as it neared southwest Florida, leaving it just shy of the 157-mph sustained winds that would make it a Category 5 storm.

The level of hurricane is determined using the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale, which bases its classifications on wind speed.

Both Category 4, which includes winds between 130-156 miles per hour, and Category 5 hurricanes expect “catastrophic damage” to occur, according to the National Weather Service.

Hurricane Ian knocks out Cuba’s power grid, leaving 11 million without electricity

Ian tore into western Cuba as a major hurricane Tuesday, knocking out power to the entire country and leaving millions people without electricity, before churning on a collision course with Florida over warm Gulf waters amid expectations it would strengthen into a catastrophic Category 4 storm.

“A high percentage of framed homes will be destroyed, with total roof failure and wall collapse,” the NWS says in its description of Category 5 hurricanes.

“Fallen trees and power poles will isolate residential areas. Power outages will last for weeks to possibly months. Most of the area will be uninhabitable for weeks or months.”

Hurricane Ian strengthens to Category 4 storm as it nears Florida: ‘Nasty, nasty two days’

Ian would become the first Category 5 hurricane to hit the United States since October 2018, when Hurricane Michael made landfall in Florida.

Michael, which registered 160-mph winds, became the fourth recorded hurricane to make landfall in the U.S. as a Category 5. The Labor Day Hurricane in 1935, Hurricane Camille in 1969 and Hurricane Andrew in 1992 are the others, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.