Third Edition
Well-Known Member
The wind speeds reported for determining the category of hurricanes are recorded by hurricane hunter aircraft at 1000 to 10,000 feet. They often drop instruments to measure the wind at lower elevations, and they have computer programs for estimating the wind speeds, too.
Having gone through several hurricanes, I've found it useful to also look to the buoy database and get sea level or shore level measurements.
Here is a shore based measurement from Panama City FL at 1:54 ET today, as Michael was reported as a CAT 5 hurricane with 155 mph winds (135 knots).
Wind Speed (WSPD): 49.9 kts (~56 mph)
Wind Gust (GST): 66.0 kts (~76 mph)
Here's the URL https://www.ndbc.noaa.gov/station_page.php?station=pcbf1
Here's data on the instruments
Site elevation: 7.9 m above mean sea level
Air temp height: 3.3 m above site elevation
Anemometer height: 8.6 m above site elevation
The purpose of this post is to put the CAT figures in context of surface wind speeds.
While any hurricane is dangerous, it is the water (rainfall & storm surge) that is most dangerous.
Having gone through several hurricanes, I've found it useful to also look to the buoy database and get sea level or shore level measurements.
Here is a shore based measurement from Panama City FL at 1:54 ET today, as Michael was reported as a CAT 5 hurricane with 155 mph winds (135 knots).
Wind Speed (WSPD): 49.9 kts (~56 mph)
Wind Gust (GST): 66.0 kts (~76 mph)
Here's the URL https://www.ndbc.noaa.gov/station_page.php?station=pcbf1
Here's data on the instruments
Site elevation: 7.9 m above mean sea level
Air temp height: 3.3 m above site elevation
Anemometer height: 8.6 m above site elevation
The purpose of this post is to put the CAT figures in context of surface wind speeds.
While any hurricane is dangerous, it is the water (rainfall & storm surge) that is most dangerous.