“Say it ain’t so!” Mount Washington dethroned as fastest wind speed on earth

Posted by Matt Noyes January 26, 2010 at 1:33 pm

It would appear as though the summit of Mount Washington may still be “Home to the World’s Worst Weather,” but no longer the world’s fastest recorded wind speed. It’s taken since 1996 to surface, but the April 12, 1934, gust of 231 mph atop New England’s highest peak fell to an intense gust of 254 mph at the center of Tropical Cyclone Olivia on Barrow Island, Australia, on April 10, 1996. The site is located just off the northwest coast of Australia, and the wind speed recording instrument (an “anemometer”) was of the three-cup variety, on a site located 210 feet above mean sea level.

The official word on any record must come from the World Meteorological Organization, who recently published their report confirming – to the best of their knowledge and ability to authenticate – the New England record has, indeed, been toppled. The extensive time between the observation and this statement has raised skepticism for some, but it would appear, at least upon initial review, that the observations and process of authentication were not flawed. I spoke with Cara Rudio, spokesperson for the Mount Washington Observatory on Tuesday afternoon, and she describes the sentiment at the Observatory as “bummed,” but acknowledges the validity of the World Meteorological Organization’s work, adding that the WMO was kind enough to provide Mount Washington with a copy of the report, and the summit personnel will be carefully reviewing it in the coming days. Executive Director of the Observatory, Scot Henley, adds, “This doesn’t change the fact that Mount Washington is one of the most fierce locations on the planet…that can’t be taken away from us.” As I mentioned this morning on NECN in my weather broadcast, some interesting items that should be examined meteorologically include the composition of the anemometer (a three cup anemometer typically cannot withstand such strong winds, and should normally break apart at far lesser wind), and the large gap between steady, or sustained, wind and the maximum gust. Additionally, this wind gust represents a 3-second average wind speed, rather than the 10-second wind speed recorded on Mount Washington, which makes a significant difference in the result.

This isn’t the first time Mount Washington’s record has been challenged, but it is the first time it’s been confirmed to have been broken using valid wind measuring tools – Doppler radar estimated 318 mph in a tornado in Moore, Oklahoma, in 1999. This wind speed, however, was hundreds of feet above the earth’s surface, and recorded by Doppler radar, which is not accurate enough to be an official measuring instrument for wind speed. Of course, New Englanders know Mount Washington still is “Home of the World’s Worst Weather” – and from a technical standpoint, still holds the fastest recorded wind speed on earth, outside of a tropical cyclone, and that’s no easy feat! Additionally, Scot Henley reminds me that the Australian site was unmanned, meaning Mount Washington – with the spirit of adventure that was alive in 1934 and still just as strong in 2009 – is home to the fastest wind speed ever observed by man.

The Mount Washington Observatory provided me with a copy of their Press Release, below, which you can read by clicking the “Continue Reading” link of this post. I’m also including the text from the World Meteorological Organization. Want more information on the Mount Washington Observatory? It’s membership supported and non-profit…and I’ve included a link in the documentation.

From the Mount Washington Observatory (www.mountwashington.org):

MOUNT WASHINGTON, NH – For nearly sixty-two years, Mount Washington, New Hampshire held the world record for the fastest wind gust ever recorded on the surface of the Earth. In a report released Friday by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), that record was toppled in 1996 at Barrow Island, Australia during Typhoon Olivia. According to the report, the new record stands at 253 mph.

News of the new world record was released by a WMO Evaluation Panel of experts in charge of global weather and climate extremes within the WMO Commission for Climatology (CCl). The panel was led by Dr. Randy Cerveny of Arizona State University and CCl Rapporteur of Climate Extremes.

“It was bound to happen, but it’s definitely quite a shock to hear that news,” says Scot Henley, Executive Director of the Mount Washington Observatory. “While we are disappointed that it appears that Mount Washington may have been bumped from the top, at our core we are all weather fans and we are very impressed with the magnitude of that typhoon and the work of the committee that studied it.”

Mount Washington’s famous wind gust of 231 mph, recorded on April 12, 1934 at the Mount Washington Observatory, stands as the record for the fastest surface wind measured in the Northern and Western Hemispheres.

“It’s natural to treat news like this with some level of skepticism,” said Henley. “Dr. Cerveny was kind enough to share the panel’s findings in advance of next month’s WMO meeting in Turkey. We’re going to spend some time reviewing the materials to learn more about the instrumentation, calibration, the methods used to calculate the wind speed and everything else that went into their investigation.”

“The new record does not diminish the fact that Mount Washington is one of the fiercest places on the planet,” says Ken Rancourt, Mount Washington Observatory’s Director of Summit Operations. “It remains consistently one of the windiest places on Earth and a location that begs further study of wind, weather and climate.”

“Work continues atop Mount Washington,” says Henley. “Our crew of meteorologists and educators at the Observatory stands ready to measure and study the next big wind, whenever it may come.”

Mount Washington Observatory, which operates within the 59-acre Mt. Washington State Park, is a private, non-profit, membership-supported organization. Since 1932, the Observatory has been monitoring the elements in one of the most extreme locations on Earth, using this unique site for scientific research and educational outreach.

From the World Meteorological Organization (www.wmo.int):

World Record Wind Gust: 408 km/h
Geneva, 22 January 2010 (WMO) – According to a recent review conducted by a panel of experts in charge of global weather and climate extremes within the WMO Commission for Climatology (CCl) the record of wind gusts not related to tornados registered to date is 408 km/h during Tropical Cyclone Olivia on 10 April 1996 at Barrow Island, Australia. The previous record was of 372 km/h, registered in April 1934 across the summit of Mount Washington, USA.

The Panel consisted of the following experts: Dr Pierre Bessemoulin, MeteoFrance and President of CCl; Dr Tom Peterson, NOAA National Climatic Data Center; Dr Blair Trewin, Australian Bureau of Meteorology; Dr Jose M. Rubiera Torres, Cuban Instituto de Meteorología; Dr John (Jack) Beven, USA National Hurricane Center; Dr John King, British Antarctic Survey; Dr Randy Cerveny, Arizona State University and CCl Rapporteur of Climate Extremes.

The panel came to its conclusion after an extensive review and evaluation of instrumental, phenomenological and statistical data.
The WMO Commission for Climatology provides more information about Global Weather and Climate Extremes at: http://wmo.asu.edu/
Hurricanes, cyclones and typhoons are different terms for the same weather phenomenon which is accompanied by torrential rain and maximum sustained wind speeds exceeding119 kilometers per hour. A hurricane with maximum sustained wind speeds exceeding 249 km/h is referred to as Category 5.

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