Hurricane Wilma winds in SF?

[LeeJet]

What were the official winds in SF for Wilma? I believe there were no sustained Cat 2 winds.

[Derek Ortt]

only sustained cat 2 winds that I saw were at Lake Okeechobee

That is also where some of the worst damage occurred and where the levee nearly broke during the hurricane

[SWFLA_CANE]

Collier County EOC in Naples had an unofficial wind gust of 127 mph.

[caneflyer]

There are no "official" winds in "SF", except whatever might have been measured at very widely scattered locations. However, the NHC report on Wilma includes this statement:

"Based on the surface observations and the Doppler data it can be concluded that most of
the southeastern Florida peninsula experienced at least category 1 hurricane conditions, and that
some parts of northern Miami-Dade County, Broward, and Palm Beach Counties likely had
category 2 hurricane conditions, including wind gusts to near 100 kt, at the standard 10 m height
above ground. It is expected that the upper floors of the many high rise buildings in South
Florida experienced wind speeds greater than occurred there at 10 m. "

This is their best estimate of what was generally experienced. But unless there is a well-sited anemometer at a location, the precise winds occurring there will never be known. Debates over such matters are generally pointless.

[Derek Ortt]

There were gusts over 130 mph on the East Coast of Florida, north of Miami.

At RSMAS, we had sustained winds of about 81 mph with gusts around 110 (some fo which I slept through (sleeping in a destructive hurricane on a causeway is NOT the most intelligent thing to do and NOBODY should do that)