That 98 knot reading was a 10 second peak flight level wind. The 30 second sustained wind in that observation was only 93 knots. The next observation right after that had 30 second sustained winds of 94 knots, so over that 1 minute interval you saw sustained flight level winds averaged to be about 93.5 knots.
I'll first note that in a mission yesterday, I saw SFMR winds of 100 mph while the plane was on the runway that were not noted as suspect. I'll just throw that out there too. You can see that here:
http://www.tropicalatlantic.com/recon/a ... 01-1015.3-Here is the decoded observation from where that 83 knot SFMR reading occurred.
http://www.tropicalatlantic.com/recon/a ... 730-17--73Regarding that SFMR wind, remember it is a 10 second peak wind. The 30 second sustained surface winds that can be calculated using a method I have discussed previously would mean the winds were 73.8 knots (~ 84.8 mph). If you look at the decoded observation at the link above, you will see the very next observation indicated that the 30 second surface wind could be estimated at 74.0 knots (~ 85.1 mph). Avergaing the two together, which would represent a 1 minute interval from observations taken directly next to each other, indicate the advisory intensity of 75 knots (around 85 mph), 1 minute sustained, is correct.
The very next observation is where the 102 knot suspect SFMR reading occurred. It was noted as suspect. I have no idea how anyone can determine if the two SFMR readings before that should be suspected or not.
But anyways, the advisory intensity, assuming they sampled the highest winds, would seem correct based on HDOB data. I'm not sure about what any dropsonde data said.