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The scale was developed in 1971 by civil engineer Herbert Saffir and meteorologist Bob Simpson, who at the time was director of the U.S. National Hurricane Center (NHC).[1] The scale was introduced to the general public in 1973,[2] and saw widespread use after Neil Frank replaced Simpson at the helm of the NHC in 1974.[3]

The initial scale was developed by Saffir, a structural engineer, who in 1969 went on commission for the United Nations to study low-cost housing in hurricane-prone areas.[4] While performing the study, Saffir realized there was no simple scale for describing the likely effects of a hurricane. Mirroring the utility of the Richter magnitude scale in describing earthquakes, he devised a 1–5 scale based on wind speed that showed expected damage to structures. Saffir gave the scale to the NHC, and Simpson added the effects of storm surge and flooding. However, in 2009, the NHC made moves to eliminate pressure and storm surge ranges from the categories, transforming it into a pure wind scale.[5] The new scale became operational on May 15, 2010.[6] The scale does not take into account rainfall or location, which means a Category 2 hurricane which hits a major city will likely do far more cumulative damage than a Category 5 hurricane that hits a rural area.[7]

The NHC decided that for its 2010 hurricane season, it would use the experimental Saffir–Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale (SSHWS), which would be based on the SSHS, but exclude flood ranges and storm surge estimations. The agency cited various hurricanes as reasons for removing the "scientifically inaccurate" information, including Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Ike which both had stronger than estimated storm surge and Hurricane Charley which had weaker than estimated storm surge.[8]

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