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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Gotta agree with you there zoomiami
This is not to say that there are not plenty of valid reasons to avoid polluting our world and to conserve resources.
We will go down in flames together Press !!!! LOL
How Funny! Thanks, I needed that.
Your timing was impeccable. Sort of puts things in perspective
Agree with the conservation. Just because I don't believe that we are the entire cause, does not mean that I believe we can do anything to our environment with impunity. We have a responsibility to ourselves, and to the place where we live.
ditto!
Thanks Zoomiami -- you have stated my position perfectly
Why aren't you cleaning???
I'm off to do some paddling for 4 hours , more or less!
Hold that pity party!
Michael, Thanks for including the source of the article you quoted (Reuters)! I find that very helpful. Would you mind crediting your source for the graph as well.
Thanking you in advance
I think Fay didn't do enough damage to retire but is a record breaker Dolly did more damage but doesn't really hold any records. I think Paloma on the other hand destroyed enough of Cayman Broc and Cuba to retire I don't think the WMO will retire more than 4 names this year
I see "El Norte" is going to come and knock on my door again...grrrrrrrrr & brrrrrrr
Post 348~ Wow, I think that's the 1st time I've heard the world isn't over populated with people. I guess hungry children are filled? We don't even have the name of the owner of that opinion to check creditals..
The few research papers mentioned may have been worthy posts but this person's interpritations? Not worth the time to read them. I think that's part of the underlying argument here. We have been encouraged through the years to post real info, new research, things we can learn from. The number jumped on for posting their opinion as fact would hope to discourage people from posting other (non specialized to a relivent field) people's opinion as fact as well.
I do see...all of us do. You really do not need to go on. Your unmistakable drift is stifling.
Thanks Michael
I have not read through The Discovery of Global Warming by Spencer Weart but I checked Weart's Bio and noted that he is a physicist and geophysicists with a special interest in history. Per his own site (bold emphasis mine - KEH):
In 1971 Dr. Weart changed his field, enrolling as a graduate student in the History Department of the University of California, Berkeley. During his studies he helped write two books: Physics circa 1900: Personnel, Funding, and Productivity of the Academic Establishments (with Paul Forman and John L. Heilbron) and Leo Szilard: His Version of the Facts (edited with Gertrud Weiss Szilard).
He has helped to lead major projects preserving the history of modern astronomy, high-energy physics, lasers, geophysics, and solid-state physics, among other fields. One major book stemming from this work is Out of the Crystal Maze: Chapters from the History of Solid-State Physics (written and edited with Lillian Hoddeson, Ernst Braun and J%uFFFDrgen Teichmann).
During the same years Dr. Weart has produced numerous historical articles and three major books: Scientists in Power, a history of the initial development of nuclear science, weapons, and reactors in France; Nuclear Fear: A History of Images;
Never at War: Why Democracies Will Not Fight One Another, a historical survey of international relations among democracies, oligarchies and autocracies. His most recent book is The Discovery of Global Warming (revised edition, 2008), a condensed version of his extensive and widely used scholarly website(note: this is his opinion of his website-KEH) on the history of climate change research.
An interesting man with a vast range of knowledge. I am sure that his work must include references from scientist with a more specific background in climatic and meterological fields. However, this companion website to his book, like his other books seem to be historical in nature. Like anthropology - it is hard to keep one's bias out of historical texts.
Michael, I would take Open Mind: with a grain of salt. The blog promotes(and I quote from the blog)
Support Your Global Climate Blog
You can help support this blog with a donation. Any amount is welcome, just click the button below. - Hardly and unbiased view point. - And a blog as a source??
As for the NASA site - Now we are talking!! It will take me some time to delve into that one (I am not a scientist).
As for graphs showing temps from the 1980's till now (or for that matter from the 1800's till now) seems like an awfully short period considering the age of our planet and the climate changes she has seen.
Hurricane Preparation entry Link
09:37
Emergency Operations Center Director Tab Troxler tells the public about St. Charles Parish's hurricane evacuation plans... Why is St. Charles Parish vulnerable... Louisiana's virtual coastline... Sea, Lake and Overland Surges from Hurricanes (SLOSH) Modeling... Changes in state evacuation plan for 2009... St. Charles Parish's assisted evacuation plan.
Videos here..Link
Video Number 1
TampaSpins Weather Blog Link
And solar panels larger than cars.....to attach to a car for energy......LOL....just kidding MichaelSTL
The measurement from Moore, OK was provided by portable radar, as another poster indicated. It may have been Howard Bluestein's unit. If so, it is worth noting that Dr. Bluestein is rather conservative in his wind-speed estimates.
The measurement from April 2, 1958 could not have been obtained this way, as this technology did not then exist. It may be an anemometer reading, or it may have been obtained by photogrammetry. A measurement of 264 mph was also obtained in Xenia, OH in 1973 by the latter method.
As has been pointed out, a clean airstream over land in such conditions, free of destructive shrapnel, is very hard to find. Mount Washington, a mountain summit above timberline, is a notable exception to this rule.
Good point - Not all blogs are equal, some are more reliable than others. Obviously I have found Dr. Master's blog to be a great learning tool, (as well as being quite interesting). I will also check out realclimate.org.
As to Open Mind, on the home page - first line of Dec31, 2008 post
I quote (bold emphasis is mine - KEH):
2008 will be over at midnight, and it’s bound to end up as one of the ten hottest years on record.
Michael - the record is not that long. Compared to the earths climatological history it may very well be statistically insignificant. I know that you discount the earths past climate changes as irrelevant to the discussions. However, on this point reasonable people can disagree. It does not mean that you are wrong, however it does mean that perhaps we should truly keep an OPEN MIND.
If Open Mind belongs to you or a friend, please do take this hard. I appreciate the work that goes into a blog.
http://www.dailytech.com/Article.aspx?newsid=13834
Taking out of the equation using the earth's climatic history for purposes as you describe in the above quote -
The earth's early climatic history is not relevant only if... You accept without question that the majority of GW is caused by man - as shown by an extremely short period of time
The earth's early climatic history is relevant if...
You consider not only the effects of climate change on the earth (millions of years ago), but also consider the importance of the origin of those climate changes of long past - and look for similar patterns today.
Studying the causes of past climate changes may shed light on the earth's
GW in modern times.
The fact that humans were not here a million years ago is relevant only if you believe
1) Humans are here, therefore GW is caused by humans
2) That GW only matters because humans are now on this earth. (In which case, then, perhaps time (and resources) should be spent deciding what needs to be done (ie, do we move people away from the coast, etc)
As stated in so well in post 381. GulfPoet:
There are any number of secondary rationale for why it makes sense for us to reduce our dependence on fossile fuels, both scientific and political. Replacing finite sources of energy with the renewable and abundent natural sources fits both schools well - in that we mitigate "enhancing" factors on the climate, and limit struggles for finite resources.
MODIFIED FOR CLARITY
The Greenland ice cap would contribute about 7 metres of sea level rise if it collapsed, about 5 metres for West Antarctica. West Antarctica has many vulnerable areas and its collapse could initiate before the end of the century IMO.
A Classic Taz Pinhole Eye..Link
It's rather like watching Ping-Pong or Tennis,..but on a Grandeur Court.
Vary Interesting threads can develop.
The President summed it up Best last summer. Link
Now, what is the SOLUTION ??
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