Max Winds are at 33 feet, not surface, typicially the worst winds are in the right front quadrant, which in this case was the NE quad, since that is where the movement AND winds combine, you were no where near the RFQ, you were on the left side of the storm, therefore the winds would not even be close to 70 MPH (which is obvious from what you are saying) plus you were not near the center of the storm, where the worst winds were, so while you may not think the winds were near 70 MPH, they actually were on the east side. You have no proof that the winds were way below 70 MPH through out the entire storm other than what you THINK the winds should be...also, so no one gets confused, the storm motion is already added into the winds, therefore the Maximum Sustained Winds are the highest winds found in the entire storm...some good reading on Max winds first, then on how motion affects the winds:kenl01 wrote:But any system passing that close to this area should have produced much higher gusts last evening. 55mph sustained is more like it.
It must have had a very weak western side. I'm surprised how weak Ernesto really was on his western side. Sorry, I just cannot buy anything anymore concerning the maximum sustained winds these days. Too many hurricanes last year did the same thing, weaken dramatically before landfall. Not one hurricane lived up to its expectations at landfall last year as far as sustained winds were concerned.
Well, it's Sept.1 and not any hurricanes out there. What a weak season.
Next please...........
http://www.aoml.noaa.gov/hrd/tcfaq/D4.html
http://www.aoml.noaa.gov/hrd/tcfaq/D6.html
In conclusion, the winds were alot weaker on the west side due to the motion of the storm, the max winds on the west side, after taking 70 MPH and subtracting the motion of the storm, were 52-53 MPH, and that was near the center...since the center was so far from land, those winds never even got close to shore until around landfall...
To back up my 33 feet claim (first paragraph on the first link above):
The National Hurricane Center uses a 1 min averaging time for reporting the sustained (i.e. relatively long-lasting) winds. The maximum sustained wind mentioned in the advisories that NHC issues for tropical storms and hurricanes are the highest 1 min surface winds occuring within the circulation of the system. These "surface" winds are those observed (or, more often, estimated) to occur at the standard meteorological height of 10 m (33 ft) in an unobstructed exposure (i.e., not blocked by buildings or trees).