We had some high winds a couple of nights ago, and it caused power outages around my state. I slept through the whole thing, even though my hubby said it shook the house. I’m a deep sleeper.
This event made me wonder when and where the fasted wind was recorded. The answer surprised me.
Until 1996, the fastest wind speed recorded on Earth was on Mt. Washington, New Hampshire. It was recorded on April 12, 1934, at 231 miles per hour. What is remarkable was that the Mount Washington Observatory staff recorded it, so they had to be on the mountain during that gale.
There is a great account on the Mount Washington Observatory website from the logbook on that day in 1934. The staff had to go outside to work the equipment. Crazy.
The current record was from a hurricane gust. Tropical Cyclone Olivia hit Barrow Island near Australia on April 10, 1996. An unmanned sensor recorded a wind speed of 254 miles per hour.
Compared to that, our wind was “just a mild spring zephyr*” as Owl would say. I’ll take that any day.
*A zephyr is a gentle breeze.