WeatherARC Blog

So as of Friday January 22, 2010 there is a new wind gust record as released by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO).  The previous wind gust record had been set at Mount Washington Observatory on April 12, 1934 where a gust of 231 mph was recorded during a strong storm that moved into the region.   The new record is 253 mph as recorded in Tropical Cyclone Olivia on April 10, 1996 at Barrow Island, Australia.

This new record is of course causing quite a stir in New Hampshire as they are now going to lose the title of having the highest recorded wind gust in the world (not associated with a tornado). The response from the Mount Washington Observatory regarding this new wind record.

Poking around the internet I came across a lot of information about the Mount Washington wind gust.  It appears that since the 1934 event there has not been a wind gust nearly as high recorded at Mount Washington.  This may be due to the fact that in 1980 the anemometer was moved from the southeast slope of the summit to the northeast (less windy) side of the summit.¹ That does not diminish the fact that Mount Washington is windy.  The average wind speed recorded there is about 35mph!²

The wind gust measured at Mount Washington was recorded at a manned observation station and based off of a 10-second wind speed measurement.  Contrasting that the wind gust recorded in Tropical Cyclone Olivia was recorded at an unmanned observation station in Barrow Island, Australia and based off of a 3-second wind speed measurement.³ I am not sure if the difference of 3 seconds versus 10 seconds makes a difference.

The anemometers used to measure the two events were also different; the anemometer that measured the 231 mph gust at Mount Washington was a Heated Number 2 Anemometer⁴ (there is a photo there as well) where as the anemometer that measured the 253 mph wind gust was a synchrotac anemometer⁵.  A synchrotac anemometer looks very similar to your 3 cup anemometer that you are used to seeing.  The synchrotac anemometer that recorded the 253mph wind gust did undergo regular inspections and calibrations⁶, so that cannot be used as a point of contention here.

Of interesting note it appears as though the anemometer that measured the 253mph wind gust during Tropical Cyclone Olivia is now owned by Chevron.  It was originally owned by WAPET.⁶

Work as been done to substantiate the claim of a new record wind gust and that information is available in the following paper:

Black,P.G., Buchan, S.J. and Cohen, R.L.: “The Tropical Cyclone Eyewall Mesovortex: A Physical Mechanism Explaining Extreme Peak Gust Occurrence in TC Olivia, April 4, 1996 on Barrow Is., Australia,” Proc 31st OTC, Houston, (1999) OTC 10792.

I believe an additional paper will be published about this in the near future.

To read the official WMO statement about this new record go to:

http://www.wmo.int/pages/mediacentre/infonotes/info_58_en.html

¹http://www.mountwashington.org/education/Changes_in_Recorded_Wind_Speed.pdf
²http://www.mountwashington.org/weather/normals.php
³http://www.weathernewengland.com/matt-noyes/mount-washington-dethroned/1006527.html
⁴http://www.nashuatelegraph.com/news/577175-196/new-wind-speed-record-claimed-topping-mount.html
⁵http://blog.ametsoc.org/uncategorized/mt-washingtons-world-record-wind-toppled/
⁶http://wmo.asu.edu/world-maximum-surface-wind-gust