Looking back at Hurricane Gustav's record 211 mph wind gust
As we look back at the weather events of 2008, perhaps the most impressive record set during the year occurred during Hurricane Gustav, which pounded Cuba as a Category 4 hurricane in August. Gustav set a new world record for highest wind gust ever measured in a hurricane. As Gustav passed over the Paso Real de San Diego meteorological station in the western Cuban province of Pinar del Rio, Cuba, on the afternoon of August 30, 2008, a wind gust of 211 mph (94.4 m/s) was recorded (it was originally pegged at 212 mph, but has been "downgraded" to 211 mph after an official review by the World Meteorological Organization). The powerful winds blew down the anemometer, and it is possible that higher gusts occurred after the instrument failed. Not only is this the highest wind speed ever measured in a hurricane, it is the second highest wind gust ever measured at a non-mountain location on Earth, and is the third highest wind gust ever measured on the surface of the planet. The highest wind gust in recorded history is the amazing 253 mph reading recorded on Barrow Island, Australia, during Tropical Cyclone Olivia in 1996. The second highest wind speed ever measured was 231 mph (370 km/hr) on the top of Mt. Washington, New Hampshire, on April 12, 1934, during passage of an extratropical storm. The fourth highest wind gust on record was the 207 mph gust measured in Greenland at Thule Air Force Base on March 6, 1972. The previous highest wind gust measured in a hurricane was 186 mph at Blue Hill Observatory, Massachusetts, during the notorious 1938 "Long Island Express" hurricane.
Figure 1. Anemometer used to measure the record 211 mph gust in Hurricane Gustav. Gustav's powerful winds flattened the instrument against the roof of the observing station. Image credit: Jose M. Rubiera Torres, Instituto de Meteorologia of Cuba.
Is this a believable record?
The instrument used for the measurement in Gustav was a Dines pressure tube anemometer mounted on the roof of the weather office. According to Jose M. Rubiera Torres of Cuba's Instituto de Meteorologia, "The graph is neat and the instrument was in perfect technical working condition. The wind peaked up to 340 km/h and then the anemometer mast fell over the concrete roof of the station's building, sharply interrupting the measurement. The graph [Figure 2], shows that wind gusts were increasing at a regular pace with time, until the instrument broke down when it got to the 340 km/h mark." Dines anemometers have a proven track record of reliability, and have been used in Cuba for over 60 years. A formal committee under the auspices of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) certified the record in 2009.
Figure 2. Trace of the Dines anemometer used to measure the record 211 mph gust in Hurricane Gustav. Image credit: Jose M. Rubiera Torres, Instituto de Meteorologia of Cuba.
How did such a strong gust occur?
At the time Hurricane Gustav moved over the Paso Real de San Diego meteorological station, the storm was rated a Category 4 hurricane with sustained winds of 150 mph, gusting to 185 mph. When the peak wind gust of 211 mph was measured at 22:35 GMT, the western eyewall of Gustav was over the anemometer site, as seen on Cuban radar (Figure 3). The town of Paso Real de San Diego is at an elevation of about 40 meters, and lies 25 km inland, about 12 km south of a rugged line of mountains up to 700 meters high. The counter-clockwise flow of air around Gustav's eyewall meant that the winds arriving at Paso Real de San Diego were forced to pass over these mountains first. The mountains probably focused and accelerated the winds through gaps between the peaks, and the air accelerated further as it rushed downhill under the force of gravity. Strong downbursts due to collapsing precipitation cores inside Gustav's eyewall probably contributed to the extreme gusts. When hurricanes make landfall, the intense thunderstorm cells that comprise the eyewall sometimes collapse suddenly, sending a downward cascade of intense winds to the surface. When this rush of wind hits the ground, it spreads out in all directions, forming a strong surface wind event known as a downburst. It has been theorized that some of the extreme damage noted in Florida during Hurricane Ivan in 2004 and Hurricane Andrew in 1992 may have been associated with downbursts from collapsing eyewall thunderstorm cells. This behavior may also be responsible for some of the extreme damage in Mississippi from Hurricane Katrina. Animations of infrared satellite imagery available from the University of Wisconsin CIMSS Satellite Blog show that the eyewall of Gustav collapsed during passage over the high mountains to the north of Paso Real de San Diego, but this occurred after the world record wind gust was measured.
Figure 3. Radar image of Hurricane Gustav (top) at 22:25 GMT on August 30 2008, five minutes before the world record 211 mph hurricane wind gust was measured. The site of the Paso Real de San Diego meteorological station where the record was set is marked with a red dot. A topographic map (bottom) shows the line of mountains up to 1200 meters high that lies just north of the town. The counter-clockwise flow of air around the eye of Gustav brought the strongest winds of Gustav across the mountain range then downhill to Paso Real de San Diego. Radar image credit: Instituto de Meteorologia of Cuba. Topographic map image credit: Wikipedia.
Note: this post was updated in 2010 to reflect the official WMO review of Gustav's wind gust, plus the addition of the new World Record wind gust set in TC Olivia in 1996.
Jeff Masters
Reader Comments
Page: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 — Blog Index
Long-range discussion from Tallahassee,FL....
LONG TERM (SUNDAY THROUGH THURSDAY)...
THE GFS...ECMWF...AND GFS ENSEMBLE MEMBERS FORECAST A SPLIT FLOW AT
500 MB OVER THE CONUS SUNDAY...WITH A BROAD SOUTHERN STREAM TROUGH
OVER THE BAJA PROPAGATING SLOWLY EASTWARD AND WEAK RIDGING OVER THE
SOUTHEAST. AS THE BAJA TROUGH MOVES INTO THE SOUTHEAST U.S. BY WED
MORNING...IT IS FORECAST BY ALL THE GUIDANCE TO PHASE WITH A
NORTHERN STREAM TROUGH. BY NEXT THURSDAY THERE IS GOOD CONSENSUS
THAT THE LARGE SCALE LONG WAVE PATTERN WILL HAVE CHANGED FROM WHAT
IT HAS BEEN THE PAST SEVERAL WEEKS...WITH A MEAN TROUGH OVER THE
EASTERN CONUS AND RIDGING OVER THE WEST. IF THIS IS AN ACCURATE
FORECAST...IT WILL MEAN A RETURN TO WINTER FOR OUR REGION...THOUGH
WE CAN NOT DETERMINE FOR HOW LONG OR HOW COLD IT WILL GET THAT FAR
OUT.
This video shows all of the hurricanes, and extra clips of the most influential ones.
Wednesday, 31 December 2008 Belfast Telegraph
Spending billions on trying to reduce carbon emissions is one giant con that is depriving third world countries of vital funds to tackle famine, HIV and other diseases, Sammy Wilson said.
The DUP minister has been heavily criticised by environmentalists for claiming that ongoing climatic shifts are down to nature and not mankind.
But while acknowledging his views on global warming may not be popular, the East Antrim MP said he was not prepared to be bullied by eco fundamentalists.
“I’ll not be stopped saying what I believe needs to be said about climate change,” he said.
"Most of the people who shout about climate change have not read one article about it."
“I think in 20 years’ time we will look back at this whole climate change debate and ask ourselves how on earth were we ever conned into spending the billions of pounds which are going into this without any kind of rigorous examination of the background, the science, the implications of it all. Because there is now a degree of hysteria about it, fairly unformed hysteria I’ve got to say as well.
“I mean I get it in the Assembly all the time and most of the people who shout about climate change have not read one article about climate change, not read one book about climate change, if you asked them to explain how they believe there’s a connection between CO2 emission and the effects which they claim there’s going to be, if you ask them to explain the thought process or the modelling that is required and the assumptions behind that and how tenuous all the connections are, they wouldn’t have a clue."
Alright guys, tell me what was the most fearful event you endured this year weather wise?
Without a dout, the day presslord put on that dress.- grown men were seen crying and women and children went into hiding!!!!!.Sme of us will NEVER recover from that!
I'll 2nd your thoughts. That was rather frightening.
Hope you all are feeling better than the "morning after" people we are getting this AM.
Working & Lurking
Why, pray tell, should we give a hoot about what the Environment Minister of Northern Ireland has to say about climate change? Seriously, this post is an insult to thinking people who actually know something about the subject. Any chance you have something intelligent and pertinant to post about the subject, Presslord, or is this the limit of your comprehension? Or maybe you were just funnin' again?
...then you, clearly, are not insulted by it....
"TIME OUT GUYS"
Thanks Press.. feeling great!
Re:155. futuremet - Awesome. I have book-marked this video. Some day I will be saying - I knew him when!
Re:Scariest weather related moment
Press in a dress was pretty scary, however, I agree with Press, that hearing "certain death" was scariest, (especially while folks were not moving on out of the area)
My personal scariest weather related incident was while driving from Charleston to North Augusta on secondary roads. It was raining (so what else is new) and suddenly it was as if someone threw a gray blanket over the car. There were deep ditches on both sides of the road, however, I could not see the the side of the road. I could not tell if there were any cars in front of me or coming up behind me. The wind was pushing my little pick-em-up truck side-to-side and I felt it lift off the road. Seemed to take forever, but was probably not more than 15 minutes of intense chaos. I came through it just about at the gates of the "bomb" plant (Savannah River Nuclear Facility). The folks standing around asked me how I managed to get through, as they had watch a tornado going in the direction from which I had come.
Re: Predictions for 2009 - I know we typically offer predictions of the upcoming tropical season, however, I thought I would offer these.
I hope that some of you will share your predictions here as well.
Happy New Years..!
Sad thing is, folks like you think comments like these constitute a "debate" about climate change. Geez...
See what I mean about avoiding the subject of.....I can't even type the words. He must be related to MichaelSTL.
Cold?? It's not cold over here. Must be just John's Island.
Well..maybe it is a bit more than T-shirt weather.
For those of you not near the "Holy City" it is 44.1 °F and clear skies.
That is darned cold for us. So glad it is not wet as well.
It's just the way some folks are. That's why I stay out of it. I believe it exists, but also believe others have a right to an opinion without making them feel like idiots if they have an opposing view.
But that's the point. If you wanted to be respectful, post something relevant, not a story about the opinion of a Northern Irish politician with no apparent expertise in the subject at hand. The very fact that you post nonsense like that is disrespectful to people concerned about the issue. If you're telling me that what Sammy Wilson thinks about climate change is part of a debate about climate change, that just leads me to believe the alleged debate is hokum. This is about science, not opinion, especially uninformed opinion.
I see you got a new Stir stick for Christmas :)
Loved your post of the other day - How funny
Any Non-Tropical Predictions for 2009?
Ahh the joys of conversation.
In presslords defense... a GOVERNMENT official, who one assumes has professionals on his staff, makes a statement.
You, who may or maynot be a professional are rebutting his conversation based on?? From the responses you have posted so far... based on personal feelings.. not fact.
If you insist on inferring a respected member of the blog is posted something you consider garbage.. rebut it based on published fact, not personal thoughts/wishes.
Now, for the fun part.. weather blog.. not a GW blog :)
Ummm I hope it doesn't snow anymore in 2009 :)
Happy New Year!
Here's what the NWS is talking about with the shift in the longwave pattern.
GEFS
ECMWF 500mb mean
GGEM Ensemble Mean
I'm going to write up a blog on it over the weekend as well as the low pressure system that will develop over the western Gulf and strengthen over the SE U.S.
MODIFIED
Maybe I shouldn't go there with there!
Prediction - Canadians get a start on their tans in February.
We don't get snow in Victoria BC... we Golf on New Years Day.
It started snowing the night I got back from Mexico in the 16th of December.. and it has snowed almost every single day since I got back. We have had over 2 1/2 feet since the 16th. We got 4" last night of very very wet snow.. I wasn't sure if I was shovelling snow or water this morning :(
Hey.. last year I was mowing the lawn New Years day :(
It is so hard for this southerner to imagine that much snow. It is totally foreign to my experience. On one hand, I admire you hardy folks in the northern climes. On the other hand I wonder about your sanity.
Prediction: Sugar cane production is up in the Caribbean after months of perfect growing weather. - Price of rum drops drastically.
Non-Tropical prediction for 2009..... hmmmmmm
I will only get one 24 hour ban.. and I just cleared my Ignore list and it will not get over 20 names on it at any one time :)
Ohhh I like that one :)
I prefer not to make assumptions. There's just too many people making assumptions, offering uninformed opinion and waving their hands. Maybe you can tell me what professionals with expertise in climate science are on the staff of the Environment Minister of Northern Ireland? [BTW - the Environment Minister of Northern Ireland would be sort of equivalent to the Environment Minister of Puerto Rico except Puerto Rico has three times the population] I'm guessing none but you put forth the proposition, therefore it's yours to defend.
If you insist on inferring a respected member of the blog is posted something you consider garbage.. rebut it based on published fact, not personal thoughts/wishes.
But there's nothing to rebut in the article Presslord posted. No fact, no substance; just the opinion of a politician from Northern Ireland. Not that politicians were ever know to opine about things of which they are ignorant. If Presslord wants to stimulate some intelligent discussion, let him post something with some basis in fact, some substance, some detail worthy of discussion. Or maybe I should just start posting Al Gore quotes.
Sounds more like a New Year's Resolution (or wish)
My New Year's Resolution is to study the tutorials and guides that have been recommended here. Hopefully I will not as as many dumb questions. (I personally do not hold to the belief that there are no dumb questions)
I appreciate your links on Orca Systems - Tropical Weather Page Great shot of the reindeer!
What about Emily in 2005?
Viewing: 151 - 201
Page: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 — Blog Index