Northern Hemisphere Highest Wind Gust (2024)

FAQs

What is the highest wind gust ever recorded? ›

The top 15 highest wind gusts on record

Even well-documented extreme wind gust measurements should be viewed with some skepticism. This is even true of the official world record-holder: a 253 mph (113.2 m/s) gust recorded in Cyclone Olivia on April 4, 1996, on Barrow Island, Australia.

In the Northern Hemisphere, the most destructive section of the storm is usually in the eyewall area to the right of the eye, known as the right-front quadrant. Based on the direction of movement of a hurricane during landfall, this section of the storm tends to have higher winds, seas, and storm surge.

In summary, for the Northern Hemisphere: Low pressure is called a cyclone and has anticlockwise winds blowing around it. High pressure is called an anticyclone and has clockwise winds blowing around it. The wind tends to blow along the pressure contours.

Commonwealth Bay, Antartica

The Guinness Book of World Records and National Geographic Atlas have both listed this bay in Antarctica as the windiest place on the planet. Katabatic winds in Commonwealth Bay are recorded at over 150 mph on a regular basis, and the average annual wind speed is 50 mph.

The highest wind speed ever recorded occurred on Barrow Island, Australia. On April 10th, 1996, an unmanned weather station measured a 253 mph wind gust during Tropical Cyclone Olivia.

If you want to move a human who weighs 175 pounds, it would take winds over 67 miles per hour. Finally, to move a car you would need wind speeds over 90 miles per hour. Winds will be picking up again on Thursday.

Humans can survive blasts of 500 mph wind, which is important because pilots sometimes need to eject from airplanes at those speeds.

Wind speeds topped 300 mph at one point.

The measured wind speed, however, would make it the highest recorded wind speed in the world. While the F5 damage was found on a narrow swath, it's hard to imagine what something of this magnitude would do. 36 people died, while nearly 600 were injured.

In the North Atlantic, central North Pacific, and eastern North Pacific, the term hurricane is used. The same type of disturbance in the Northwest Pacific is called a typhoon.

The official hurricane season for the Atlantic basin is from June 1 to November 30, but tropical cyclone activity sometimes occurs before and after these dates, respectively. The peak of the Atlantic hurricane season is September 10, with most activity occurring between mid-August and mid-October.

Will there be a hurricane in Florida in 2024? ›

Experts are predicting this season could bring:

Between 17 and 25 named storms (storms with winds of at least 39 mph). Between 8 and 13 of these will be hurricanes (storms with winds of at least 79 mph). Between 4 and 7 of these will be major hurricanes (categories 3, 4 and 5 storms).

Generally, prevailing winds blow east-west rather than north-south. This happens because Earth's rotation generates what is known as the Coriolis effect. The Coriolis effect makes wind systems twist counter-clockwise in the Northern Hemisphere and clockwise in the Southern Hemisphere.

Ocean wave heights can reach an astounding 78 feet (24 metres). It is well-known that the northern hemisphere does not have anything comparable to the extreme storms, winds and waves of the south.

Because the Earth rotates on its axis, circulating air is deflected toward the right in the Northern Hemisphere and toward the left in the Southern Hemisphere. This deflection is called the Coriolis effect.

John's, Newfoundland, Canada; Perth, Australia; and Yigo, Guam.

Commonwealth Bay is the windiest spot on Planet Earth, with winds regularly exceeding 240 km/h (150 mph).

Washington, which doesn't have a single monthly average windspeed under 20 mph and is home to the second-highest wind speed ever measured, 231 miles per hour, topped only by a tropical cyclone off the coast of Australia.