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
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I am from Wilmington and a Panther fan, however I don't think their "defence" is good enough .
all the inlanders have all the luck but then again thats a matter of situation and opinion as I learned back on 12/11/08 it was a great day after I finished doing some stuff but before then was hell (when one's driving) and then there were those in LA who got more than us from what I've seen on u tube it looks like a blizzard from up north
PS LOL thats right thats something to look forward to I wonder how my former team (Dolphins) will do they've been doing good so far
I would bet on deer (natural predators decline), roaches and rats.
Species have been dying, while other species adapt and thrive - long before man came around. Not sure I would blame every decline in species to us (or every increase)
Having said that... DDT (a pesticide had a tremendous negative effect) was used quite extensively here in South Carolina farming, with the residue being washed to the shore. Our brown Pelicans took quite a hit. It is amazing how quickly they recovered with the banning of DDT.
Yes some creatures can adapt but most can't my entire point is that humans harm nature and I know about DDT my middle school was Rachel Carson. And I heard more than Pelicans. All sorts of Birds and bugs died
I second that!!!!
Darwinism
(or Darwinism and GW)
That's the irony of all this...
Humans are a part of nature, unless you believe we were placed here by the hand of God after molded from clay in his own image...
Then you come across the second irony of all this...
Humans, through global warming, are supposedly harming ourseleves. Yet we are thriving...go figure.
And another irony, of all species other than humans that are thriving, is usually because of us too, through introduction of invasive species.
The list is endless. Rats and roaches were pointed out but there's many others.
Various species of jellyfish,
South American toads (Cane toads)
Gypsy moth caterpillars
Common house cats
Zebra mussels
Asian clams
Japanese beetles
Asian long-horned beetle
Africanized honey bees
hundreds of others...
Too many to list here.
I guess my point is that humans sometimes harm nature - and it behooves us to correct those instances. It is the extrapolating this to the idea that humans are the bane to the existence of other animals, that we are responsible for any decline in animal populations etc that I have a problem with.
I live in South Carolina and murdered my lover in a fit of jealously - 50 people were known to have died last night in SC.. ergo I killed all 50. - See what I mean? - One has to be careful about extrapolating cause and effect, without all the facts. You cannot just pick and choose which facts you use in your evaluations.
Again, having said that... Growing food without pesticides and inorganic fertilizers - good idea.
Washing clothes in cold water - easy to do - good idea.
Turning off appliances - easy to do - good idea.
Avoid buying food in plastic containers - hard, but do-able - good idea.
Decrease dependency on fossil fuels - a MUST do.
Driving in such a way, to conserve fuel consumption - something everyone can do.
We need to be responsible consumers.
Buy Local!!
I think producing American goods instead of chinise would solve the economic issues this country has.
How many of those species are harming others in their population boom though Hmm. and no I do not believe in Creationism. As for KEH we won't know if we killed them because we don't know how many creature went extinct annually before us but But I'd bet we have caused a significant increase in extinctions It's not like we can throw garbage and toxic gases into nature and not expect consequenses
The more local - the better.
I was buying regular lined binder paper the other day (true story).
There we two different brands - one made in China and one made in Canada.
I bought Canadian.
The other thing about Chinese products, is that they have a very poor record of environmental friendly practices (think Olympics), and the safety of their products is also poor (think dog food and children's toys to name two)
Personally, I would not buy toothpaste (or anything that I would put in my mouth or on my skin) from China - read your labels, folks!
(Modified - And we have not even talked about fair labor practices)
You are absolutely correct in that. We are responsible for our emissions and trash.
So about the low by the Philippines it's been rather persistent maybe it'll develop.
EU's new figurehead believes climate change is a myth
The European Union's new figurehead believes that climate change is a dangerous myth and has compared the union to a Communist state.
The views of President Vaclav Klaus of the Czech Republic, 67, have left the government of Mirek Topolanek, his bitter opponent, determined to keep him as far away as possible from the EU presidency, which it took over from France yesterday.
The Czech president, who caused a diplomatic incident by dining with opponents of the EU’s Lisbon treaty on a recent visit to Ireland, has a largely ceremonial role.
Cottilion.. one of my good friends lives in London and produces for BBC. HE is a proper Miami Dolphin fan, shame on you brother. I think my boys have a very good shot at having another game. This is just the beginning of many years of post season meeting between these two teams. Flacco ROCKS and is IMO, the missing piece for Balmer. Anyway, in ending this off topic post, let me invite any and all of you to ThePhins.com. I moderate there and go by cnc66.. since 1966, Miami first year.
I make long involved threads on threatening hurricanes during THAT season and can say that Doc Masters work here, shared there helped convince some in harms way to get out. Y'all make a real difference and I'm proud to be among you.
I am off into the weather (off to work). Play nice folks, and keep your fingers crossed for the Philippines.
Good thing STL has you on ignore or you would soon be feeling his wrath! LOL.
President-elect Barack Obama, in strongly-worded remarks to a gathering of governors and foreign officials on Tuesday, said he had no intention of softening or delaying his aggressive targets for reducing emissions that cause the warming of the planet.
“Now is the time to confront this challenge once and for all,” Mr. Obama said. “Delay is no longer an option. Denial is no longer an acceptable response.”
Like it or not folks, the debate as to whether or not we're going to take action to deal with the climate change issue is over for now. That decision was made in November. The debate now is just what are we going to do. BTW - I like that quote; "Denial is no longer an acceptable response."
where do sunspots fit into the gw mix? or do they?
tia
I can agree with most of that. I did not mean to imply that saving money, using less energy than we could, or avoiding wholesale changes to the landscape were bad things. It is just to point out the scale of what would have to actually happen to achieve a measurable mark on CO2 concentration. Personally, I am a go-camping-in-the-wild-and-leave-absolutely-no-mark-on-the-land kindof guy. I like my 30+ mpg and refuse to buy anything less efficient. I do not need, nor do I want a 3000 sq ft house for my family, 1600 does nicely. I only have a problem with legislating energy use.
The whole "US is the bad guy" thing is a croc. They have been jealous of our economic might so long and they thought this was going to be an equalizer. Which leads to...
The only part I have to disagree with you on is that Kyoto was signed by a US president...Clinton. Bush could not have signed it, that would have been improper. All along it has been waiting on Congress to ratify, but no one in the senate wants to put it out to vote because they know the answer; before the Kyoto meet the entire senate unanimously decreed that the US would not ratify anything that didn't ask the same of China and India.
Here is a rare instance of our senate having real foresight into the side effects of ratifying such a treaty. Their well-placed reservations are exactly what is bugging the Europeans.
We also need to make some noise about origination on labels for food.
Did you know that Musselman's, Tree Top, and Lucky leaf apple juice are all made of concentrate from China? Three all American brands, but no Amreican apples within. It is in tiny dot matrix letters stamped on the bottle (not label). Here is a shocker: At WalMart (of all places), there is a Sam's apple juice not from concentrate only from US orchards.
SNOWFALL WARNING: Greater VictoriaIssued at 5:41 AM PST SATURDAY 3 JANUARY 2009
SNOWFALL ACCUMULATIONS OF 5 CM THROUGH THE MORNING FOR NORTH VANCOUVER ISLAND AND WEST VANCOUVER ISLAND. SNOWFALL ACCUMULATIONS OF 5 TO 10 CM THROUGH THE MORNING FOR METRO VANCOUVER GREATER VICTORIA SOUTHERN GULF ISLANDS AND THE FRASER VALLEY. ADDITIONAL SNOWFALL AMOUNTS OF 5 CM ARE EXPECTED FOR CENTRAL COAST - COASTAL SECTIONS. THIS IS A WARNING THAT SIGNIFICANT SNOWFALL IS EXPECTED OR OCCURRING IN THESE REGIONS. MONITOR WEATHER CONDITIONS..LISTEN FOR UPDATED STATEMENTS.
I see your still playing with your new Christmas present... that Stir stick is working overtime.
Thousands displaced by floods in southern Philippines
CAGAYAN DE ORO: About 5,000 families in the southern Philippines have been displaced by flash floods and large waves spawned by heavy rains, officials said Saturday.
Over a hundred houses have been destroyed and many people are fleeing their homes in the face of rising waters in the northern part of the southern island of Mindanao, civil defense officials said.
Regional Civil Defense Director Carmelito Lupo said that most of those whose homes were destroyed were from Cagayan de Oro City but officials were still trying to get information on the situation in the surrounding areas.
Local officials in Cagayan de Oro said that over 2,000 families had to be evacuated to basketball courts due to rising waters on riverbanks.
With all due respect, this comparison seems a bit deceptive to me, at least if you believe that the true measure of gluttony is per capita emissions, not national emissions. The population of France alone was 1.5x that of the US in 1850 and the population of the entire EU today is 1.5x that of the US. I'd say the message here is that the US has managed to pump out significantly more CO2 than the EU to support a much smaller population.
Tropical Depression "AURING" remains almost stationary as it threatens Eastern Visayas
Tropical Cyclone Bulletin #2
===============================
At 11:00 PM PhST, Tropical Depression Auring located at 9.8°N 126.7ºE or 130 kms east of Surigao City has 10 minute sustained winds of 25 knots.
Signal Warnings
===============
Signal Warning Number 1 (30-60 kph winds)
Visayas Region
------------
1. Northern Samar
2. Eastern Samar
3. Western Samar
4. Leyte
5. Southern Leyte
6. Biliran Island
7. Camotes Island
Mindanao Region
----------------
1. Surigao del Norte
2. Siargao Island
3. Dinagat Island
Even more showing just how BS*** the comment is; I ought to ignore the poster for agreeing with whoever posted that (probably the Telegraph or such):
Who is NOT on your silly ignore list?
Now I have really had it - you won't be seeing me reply anymore from now on, forever.
Well...that promise lasted about 1 day.
Hard to believe anything you say.
I'm not on his ignore list...
It's very easy not to be...if you don't engage
Why are you so obsessed with MichaelSTL's ignore list? Personally I don't get the whole ignore thing, but being put on STL's list really seems to have upset you. I'd advise that you just let it go and get on with your life. It looks like STL has.
The weather sucks bigtime... its snowing right now :(
Upset me? Yeah...I'm losing sleep at night over it.
Oh...I am over it and could care less.
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