We've recently seen how a tropical storm can become something much bigger with Hurricane Dolly last week. But what are the differences and how does a storm go from a tropical storm to a hurricane?

Meteorologist Josh Fitzpatrick has the answer:

It's been a typical summer here in the Ohio, Big Sandy and Kanawha valleys. We've had many days filled with tropical humidity and tropical downpours. The only things we haven’t had to deal with directly are tropical storms and hurricanes.

One message in my e-mail in box recently has to do with hurricane facts. Deborah from Meigs County, Ohio, wants to know what are the different wind speeds of a tropical depression, storm and hurricane and the different hurricane scales?

Alright, let's get right to it. The first stage of a developing hurricane is a tropical depression. Basically, this is a tropical low pressure area with winds between 23 and 39 mph. If this feature is able to get better organized and the winds increase to speeds between 39 and 73 mph, it's classified as a tropical storm and given a name. When the winds in the center of a tropical storm reach at least 74 mph, it becomes a hurricane.

Now there are five different classifications for hurricanes. They’re based on how strong the winds are. The scale used to classify a hurricane is called the Saffer-Simpson Scale. It starts out at Category One, with winds between 74 and 95 mph. These are considered minimal hurricanes. When winds reach at least 111 mph, a hurricane is classified as a major hurricane, and the strongest hurricanes are Category Fives, with winds greater then 155 mph. The last Category Five hurricane to hit the U.S. was in 1992, when Hurricane Andrew slammed South Florida.

To track the latest tropical storms and hurricanes, log on to our Web channel WSAZ.com, click on Weather and then click on Hurricane Tracking 2008 for the latest information. Hurricane season runs through the end of November.