Hurricane-ready by design.
What Florida wind zones actually mean for any outdoor structure, the four engineering choices we make so a SunProwl catio stays put through storm season, and the questions worth asking any vendor before you sign anything.
What the map actually means for your yard.
Most of Florida is designed for around 120 mph gusts. Miami-Dade and Broward sit in the High-Velocity Hurricane Zone (HVHZ) and are designed for around 150 mph or higher, with stricter rules on how anything connected to a structure is anchored and tested. Anywhere on the coast or along the intracoastal is one tier higher than inland counties at the same latitude.
What that means for an outdoor cat enclosure is straightforward. If you live in the HVHZ, anything you install should be rated to the same standard the local building code expects of a screen room. Anywhere else in Florida, you should still assume a direct hit from a Cat 3 storm every decade or two — not a "once in a lifetime" event, but a planning baseline.
A common mix-up
A pool screen enclosure and a catio are not the same engineering problem. A pool cage is allowed to flex, give, and partially fail under gust load — its job is to protect a pool from leaves, not to keep a small animal safe inside during a storm. An enclosure with a live animal in it has to stay intact, stay anchored, and stay occupiable. That is a different (and tougher) spec.
What's your Florida wind zone?
Type in your ZIP and we'll map it to the wind zone your address sits in — the same classification that drives the engineering choices, anchoring spec, and hardware grade below.
Florida wind zones
Enter your 5-digit Florida ZIP — we'll tell you which wind zone your address sits in.
Four choices that determine whether an enclosure survives the season.
Almost every failure we see in Florida storm season comes back to one of these four decisions: how the frame is anchored, whether the geometry resists racking, whether the mesh stays clamped under pressure, and whether the hardware is going to be standing up ten years from now.
Most screen enclosures are fastened with wood lag screws or basic brackets. Wind load rips lag screws out of treated lumber, and a single pulled anchor lets the next gust peel the frame off the patio.
SunProwl approach
Concrete-anchor base plates, through-bolted to the slab or footer.
Every SunProwl base is set on a stainless or hot-dip-galvanized plate and through-bolted into the slab, the footer, or a poured concrete pier — not screwed into the deck board. The connection is the same type marine builders use to keep a dock on a seawall through a tropical storm.
A square frame without bracing racks under a sustained gust. Once the rectangle leans, the joints open, the mesh goes slack, and the whole enclosure folds into the yard.
SunProwl approach
Powder-coated aluminum geometry with diagonal bracing at every wide span.
Frames are drawn in powder-coated marine-grade aluminum with engineered diagonal bracing on any run over four feet. The triangulation resists racking under gust load the way a truss resists it — the structure stays square and the joints stay tight even when the wind hits from an unexpected direction.
Light screen mesh balloons under pressure and pops its spline. Ferrous fasteners bleed rust onto the mesh, stain the patio, and quietly lose clamping force after a season or two.
SunProwl approach
Heavy-gauge mesh, clamped (not just splined) into the frame, paired with 316 stainless fasteners and powder-coated aluminum — zero ferrous hardware in the run.
Mesh is heavier-gauge than ordinary pet screening and secured with a dual-lock clamp system so it will not balloon or peel out under hurricane gusts. Every fastener in the assembly is 316 stainless or matches the powder-coated aluminum frame — nothing in the build rusts, nothing bleeds stain onto the mesh, and the clamping force stays the same in year five that it had in week one.
Ask any catio vendor these six questions.
Most marketing language around hurricane rating is just language. These questions force a real answer — a number, a material, or a name you can verify.
Every SunProwl enclosure ships storm-ready.
Through-bolted anchoring, powder-coated aluminum geometry with diagonal bracing, clamped predator-grade mesh, and 316 stainless hardware are standard on every custom build and every modular kit we ship. There is no upsell for the parts that keep the enclosure where you put it.
See the spec sheet for what ships in the kit → /specs
Quote a catio built for your Florida wind zone.
Tell us your county, your lot, and where on the property the catio will live. We will spec the anchoring, the frame, and the mesh for the exact wind zone your address sits in — usually within one business day.
Or email sunprowl@polsia.app — read more on the home page.