Gustav's gusts - 212mph???

[somethingfunny]

I'm just wondering if this has been verified or not. From what I understand (not much) wind gusts are usually within 30-40 mph of the max sustained except in rare occasions like Hurricane Celia.

[pojo]

when we have gusts that large (well over what the hurricane is rated at)... we usually question the smurf... these winds typically happened when flying over land.

In case of the 212mph wind... not verified.

[somethingfunny]

when we have gusts that large (well over what the hurricane is rated at)... we usually question the smurf... these winds typically happened when flying over land.

In case of the 212mph wind... not verified.

What's a smurf?

[RL3AO]

when we have gusts that large (well over what the hurricane is rated at)... we usually question the smurf... these winds typically happened when flying over land.

In case of the 212mph wind... not verified.

What's a smurf?

SFMR (nicknamed smurf) is a tool on the planes of the hurricane hunters that estimates surface winds and rainfall.

[somethingfunny]

Gotcha. Thank you both for your answers. How does one go about verifying a 212-mph wind gust...and if verified, would it imply that Gus was a Cat5 or just be considered an anomalous gust?

[Category 5]

Gotcha. Thank you both for your answers. How does one go about verifying a 212-mph wind gust...and if verified, would it imply that Gus was a Cat5 or just be considered an anomalous gust?

Probably if they confirmed this it would be just an anomalous gust.

[CajunMama]

What's a smurf?

I can't believe none of y'all did the obvious!

[Aslkahuna]

There is a WMO working group headed by Dr. Randy Cerveny of Arizona State University that is tasked to verify record events reported by member nations (in this case we are talking about a possible world record for TC gusts.). They will examine the records and test the instrument if possible or another identical one to determine possible biases at high wind/heavy rain conditions and ultimately will verify the report or come up with a different value which will become the accepted one if different from the original value. The process takes a relatively long period of time-in this case especially since the report comes from Cuba.

Steve

[Aslkahuna]

The WMO working group will make its report in February as to the validity of the report though from the wind trace it looks possible. It seems that there may be a Canyon wind and downslope wind component involved since the reporting station is located in what would have been the lee of a range of mountains. I'm quite familiar with downslope and Canyon winds from my 20 years living in Sierra Vista. If verified, it will be the strongest wind gust ever recorded in a hurricane situation replacing the 186 mph gust at Blue Hill MA in 1938 and the second highest ever recorded behind the 231 mph gust at Mount Washington in 1934 and ahead of the 207 mph gust at Thule Greenland in 1972 (also a downslope wind off the Ice Cap).

Steve

[brunota2003]

Wow! That is incredibly stunning. Even if it isn't quite 212, that is still one helluva wind gust, rarely seen anywhere.

[wyq614]

According to Cuban press Granma that I have read, WMO has verified this gust record and it has become the world record for gusts