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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What about Emily in 2005?
Happy New Year to you to Drakoen...thanks for posting those links. I noticed the 12Z GFS is really latching on to a big change in the pattern starting within the next 7-10 days. Back to below normal temps in the eastern USA.
Never pick an argument with someone who has google :)
Maybe you can tell me what professionals with expertise in climate science are on the staff of the Environment Minister of Northern Ireland? I'm guessing none but you put forth the proposition, therefore it's yours to defend.
Link
Link 2
Link 3
And no more Ike Juniors, this year thank you very much.
LOL....I'll never, ever, forget that storm.
You means a someone who has Google and knows how to use it. Thanks, however, for helping make my point. It seems that Sammy Wilson's opinion is completely at odds with the information on the websites you linked to. Bad thing about Google is the people that don't take the time to read what they link to. Maybe if Presslord had done a little more research, he would have realized how little credibility Sammy Wilson has. I stand by my opinion of his original post.
ZOOooooooooo hows it going :)
I am going to upgrade my Google earth.. not to the pro level.. just the next level up from basic :)
I remember you wishing for a decent sized fish storm to bear your name.. boy did you screw that one up.
Whatme, whomever, or whatever you are. You should state your qualifications over a mere politician even. You surely don't stand as high in stature, nor the understanding that we all learn from other sources as press does. What makes you think you can do as well against the hierarchy of a nation?
Really no need to answer. I won't be here to read it. Dr. M, was hoping for a kinder, gentler year on your blog. I don't see it happening. :-( I'll just read your header this year again.
Weather is beautiful, cooled down a little.
Ahhh but thats one of the positive points on this blog.. everyone is so friendly, and never takes a comment out of context.. or expresses a different opinion without always taking into consideration the other persons feelings :)
They are so polite its almost embarrassing...
Awww now be nice.. I was having fun playing with it :) now it won't play anymore.
I looked at all the links you posted, but I'm not sure what exactly I'm looking at.
Does it by any chance mean it will cool off a a little around here?
I have the upgrade, honestly don't see what it does differently.
Governmental responses to global warming are appropriate. - I am not sure know how much (if any) that the Global Warming is due to human activity - nor how long it will last.
Another 2009 Prediction:
Scientist and activist (who promoted the switch from paper to plastic bags as important to saving the environment) apologize. Public demands that they gather all those darn plastic bags - and refrain from offering opinions in the Global Warming debate.
Overall, we will likely have another above average
Regardless, it is not the frequency of tropical cyclones that count, it is the landfalls that are important. Back in 2007, we had 2 category 5 hurricanes....none hit the U.S.
However, a higher frequency of tropical cyclone activity the does increase the chance of landfalls.
Basically, they are 500mb height anomalies. Using the 500mb geopotential heights we are looking for where a pressure of 500mb is found relatively to the surface. Low geopotential heights are indicative of stormy weather: low pressure. When a 500mb trough (longwave or shortwave) moves into a region a pressure of 500mb comes closer to the surface. That's the bluish colors you see and you see a dip in the height contours (The lines are the isohypse). This is associated with cold weather. High geopotential heights are indicative of less storminess: Higher pressure, ridges. That's the oranges and red you see along with the inverted U shape. This is associated with warm weather. Geopotential height anomalies give us an idea of what type of weather is occurring and what kind of air mass is present.
This is a great explanation - however - it will take me a few hours to figure it all out. Scary that you are that smart.
The plans for next year are to vacation in Cuba December/January for our 30th. The original plan was to go this year, but that was cancelled after the multiple hits Cuba took this year.
I am hoping 2009 is the Tropical year of the FishStorm :)
Awww crap.. I actually understand that :(
I am becoming a weather dweeb :(
Ohhhh nice shot :)
Mind you, thats why I said weather dweeb... not smart enough about the weather to be a Nerd yet.
Returned from the forest 2 days early. Had a great amble along a river-bed, swollen with rain yesterday. Weather was real nice. But last night it began to come down in buckets, again, and by noon we had had quite enough of that. Sitting in a rain-cloud, with no breezes evident to move things along, and measuring 1.5 inches in a coffee cup in 12 hrs-- well, you pull up stakes.
Checking the images when I got home, I think we made the right choice......
See some agitation in the comments. And, its only Jan. 1.
Where do you guys go, from here? LOL
Start off bad and then get worse from there....
I have to get back to my "weather brains"
- too much Christmas Elf work going on lately.
All is good though.
Link
I just researched how to do this, and you do not have to be a paid member to add this to the profile.
Look at the weather in your area page, scroll down on the right hand side, and you will see blogs etc for people in the area. Its a really useful feature - and can put you in contact with others who may have information you are looking for.
And its good for lurkers too - you don't have to be someone who posts all the time to have your location shown.
Governmental responses to global warming are appropriate. - I am not sure know how much (if any) that the Global Warming is due to human activity - nor how long it will last.
Not sure why you're seemingly directing this comment towards me since I haven't really posted anything about government responses to global warming. I'm also not sure why you'd be wanting to give carte blanche to governments around the world. Before I'd say a response was appropriate, I'd want to know what that response was. Speaking as a US citizen, I think our responsibility is to be informed and then scream bloody murder if we disagree with what our government is doing. Sheep shouldn't have citizenship. As to not being sure about the human contribution to global warming; I'd say do some research. You might want to start with the National Academy of Sciences website. They have some good information there on the topic that is accessible to the layman. Whatever you do, pay no attention to the uninformed opinions of people like Sammy Wilson - the onus is on you, as a citizen, to do your own research.
The quantity of "fish storms" we have this year depends on the strength of the subtropical ridge (STR) of the Atlantic, and upper level jet stream patterns. A fragile STR increases the liklelihood of a tropical cyclone going out to sea, and gets picked up by a trough of low pressure. Weak anticyclones tend to have smaller magnitude than stronger ones, thus, a tropical cyclone moving westward will arrive at the rige axis sooner, and move northwest, and eventually northeast. A strong high pressure system would not only prolong westward motion, but make the environment more hospitable for tropical cyclogenesis.
2009's already shaping up to be an active year,
La Nina is what we had in 2007, ENSO is what we had in 2008.
Speaking of La Nina, I wonder, if we get a vigorous one like we did in 1988 and 2007, will most of the strongest storms run into Central America and Mexico? I looked at three La Nina years (1988, 2000, and 2007), and in each of those years, the strongest storms moved into Central America and Mexico, due to an abnormally strong ridge draped across the Carribean.
I'm not saying that's what'll happen this year if we get a strong La Nina, I just found it interesting that the steering currents during the aforementioned years sent the most potent storms into the aforementioned countries, when all three of those years were La Nina ones.
In 2000, this happened with Debby and Ernesto, and in 2007, with Ingrid and Karen. Both were La Nina years.
Funny I noticed that aswell
Gilbert, Mitch, Dean and Felix all took similar paths due to a strong high to the north. Each of those years were La Nina years. I think 2009 will might get something on the order of intensity of Dean. I just hope there are no US Landfalls like we saw in 2008.
I've been lurking mostly, haven't had much to post about. Survived another year in retail.
Hope everyone has a Happy & prosperous 2009.
Gordon
Tropical Disturbance Summary (2230z 01JAN)
============================================
An area of convection (99W) located at 10.6N 128.4E or 395 NM east-southeast of Manila, Philippines. Recent animated infrared satellite imagery shows deep convection developing over the northwest quadrant and building in over a weak low level circulation center. A 1700z AMSR-E Microwave Image supports the infrared imagery showing banding convection on the northern side of the low level circulation center developing. The upper level analysis indicates the system is equatorward of a subtropical ridge, in a divergent quadrant of the ridge providing good poleward outflow and low to moderate vertical wind shear. However vertical wind shear will begin to increase as the low level circulation center tracks to the northwest into a region of strong northeasterly flow associated with a cold surge
Maximum sustianed winds near the center is 15-20 knot with a minimum sea level pressure or 1008 MB. Because of the increasing vertical wind shear and colder northeasterly flow, the potential for this disturbance to develop into a significant tropical cyclone within the next 24 hours is POOR.
Tropical Disturbance Bulletin
==========================
At 2:00 a.m. PhST, a Low Pressure Area was estimated based on satellite and surface data at 420 kms East Northeast of Northern Mindanao 10.0°N 129.5°E.
Happy New Year to everyone!
Philippines infrared satellite imagery
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