When we talk about hurricanes, the first number you usually hear is wind speed. That makes sense. Wind is what tears off roofs, knocks down trees, and turns debris into dangerous missiles. Wind kicks ...

A record-breaking 252-mph wind reading measured by a dropsonde launched from an NOAA Hurricane Hunter airplane during a mission into Hurricane Melissa has been verified, making it the strongest wind ...

Wind alone does not account for all hurricane-related fatalities. Storm surge and rainfall do as well. Yet the current warning system—the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale—measures a storm's ...

A paper authored by University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH) graduate student Zeb Leffler has been published in the Geophysical Research Letters. The student's master's research addresses a ...

Editor's note: This page summarizes news on Erin for Monday, Aug. 18. For the latest news on Hurricane Erin, visit USA TODAY's coverage for Tuesday, Aug. 19. Hurricane Erin fluctuated in intensity on ...

Add Yahoo as a preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. This weather satellite photo taken last October shows abundant lightning flashes within the eye wall of Hurricane Melissa, a ...

A staggering new observation of Hurricane Melissa was confirmed this week: As the powerful storm was preparing to hit Jamaica in late October, a dropsonde — a probe launched out of the belly of a ...

The incredible 252 mph peak wind gust measured in Hurricane Melissa as it approached Jamaica was verified this week. That wind gust is now officially the highest wind speed ever recorded by the ...

Add Yahoo as a preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. Two women walk through strong winds in downtown Houston. March and April typically mark the city's windiest stretch of the year.

Storm surge and rainfall — not wind — cause the majority of hurricane deaths, yet are absent from the current warning system. Researchers developed and tested the Tropical Cyclone Severity Scale, ...