Sustained Windspeeds

[Paranoid]

Hi all. I understand that Atlantic Hurricanes, East Pacific Hurricanes and West pacific typhoons have sustianed windspeeds measued for 1 minute. In Austraila they use 10 minute sustained windspeeds. How much difference is there between the two? I'm asking this because Cyclone Monica's winds were 180mph (10 minute sustained) and it's pressure is disputed. 905mb is more likely for a 180mph cyclone, but they estimated pressures of 879mar and 869mbar, which would probably indicate higher windspeeds.

[Supercell]

Typhoon Tip holds the record for lowest central pressure ever recorded (at 870 hPa). The recordings taken for both the mean 10-minute and 1-minute sustained windspeeds...

max mean windspeed over 1 min = 190 mph

max mean windspeed over 10 min = 160 mph

So a significant difference. I would tend to side with using the 10 minute max mean measurement for true sustained windspeeds. Apparently, somewhere in SE recorded a mean max of 74 mph throughout the crucial 10 minute period, during that memorable storm of Oct '87.

[Guest Viking141]

Record UK sustained windspeed of 89mph was recorded at the Muckle Flugga Lighthouse on Unst, Shetland on 1st Jan 1992. On the same day an unofficial record was set with sustained windspeeds recorded on an oil rig 10m NE of Muckle Flugga Lighthouse of 125mph during what was known as the Hogmanay Hurricane! I believe these speeds were recorded using the 10 minute rule.

Edited September 11, 2006 by Viking141

[Paranoid]

I heard somewhere that the 1703 storm may have had 120mph sustained winds.

After calculating Monica's 1 minute sustained windspeeds (17%+ 185mph), they came out to around 216mph, which rounded up would bring them to 215mph, making Monica apparently 25mph stronger than Tip.

On the subject of 1987 (despite it and the Hogmanay hurricane were before my time), i heard a sustained windspeed of 70kts, which in 1 minute sustained is about 93-94mph, making the 1987 storm borderline Category 1-2, however the measurement of 74mph seems more likely, as 94mph winds seem a little too strong. As for the Hogmanay hurricane, i would say the winds would have to be at least Category 2 or even 3 to destroy an Oil rig. They've got to be able to take at least category 1 as they often experience severe gales in those sort of regions.

Edited September 11, 2006 by Paranoid

[kold weather]

I believe the figure of 185mph is the 1 minute sustained figure Paranoid, granted that is still super strong and there aren't that many hurricane that get that high.

As for the 1987 storm, the strongest sustained winds I've heard about is 63kts, which is *just below* hurricane strength, though gusts as you say did upto 90-95mph.

[Paranoid]

From what i heard it was the 10 minute sustained windspeed, however 185mph 1 min sustained seems much more plausable. I also heard it went below T8 using the Dvorak technique, whihc requires at least 196mph winds for 8. It also needs to be below a certain pressure (890 in the atlantic and 858 in the Nw pacific. It doesn't list the South Pacific.) In comparison, Wilma met the pressure requirment, but didn't have high enough windspeeds, so she counted as 7.5-7.9 (if it works like that).

It may just be Wikipedia with unreliable information, but these are the two articles i read. I'll let you make your own mind up. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyclone_Monica

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2005-06_South..._cyclone_season

Thanks for all the information anyway though.

[P.K.]

Hi all. I understand that Atlantic Hurricanes, East Pacific Hurricanes and West pacific typhoons have sustianed windspeeds measued for 1 minute. In Austraila they use 10 minute sustained windspeeds. How much difference is there between the two? I'm asking this because Cyclone Monica's winds were 180mph (10 minute sustained) and it's pressure is disputed. 905mb is more likely for a 180mph cyclone, but they estimated pressures of 879mar and 869mbar, which would probably indicate higher windspeeds.

The NW Pacific is a ten minute basin. The only one minute basins are the CN Pacific, NE Pacific, and N Atlantic. Monica was 135kts, the pressure is not disputed. The unofficial Dvorak gave an estimate of 879hPa, the BoM gave 905hPa. The BoM are official so 905hPa it was.

Typhoon Tip holds the record for lowest central pressure ever recorded (at 870 hPa). The recordings taken for both the mean 10-minute and 1-minute sustained windspeeds...

max mean windspeed over 1 min = 190 mph

max mean windspeed over 10 min = 160 mph

Tip reached 140kts.

After calculating Monica's 1 minute sustained windspeeds (17%+ 185mph), they came out to around 216mph, which rounded up would bring them to 215mph, making Monica apparently 25mph stronger than Tip.

As above Monica was 5kts weaker than Tip.

From what i heard it was the 10 minute sustained windspeed, however 185mph 1 min sustained seems much more plausable. I also heard it went below T8 using the Dvorak technique, whihc requires at least 196mph winds for 8. It also needs to be below a certain pressure (890 in the atlantic and 858 in the Nw pacific. It doesn't list the South Pacific.) In comparison, Wilma met the pressure requirment, but didn't have high enough windspeeds, so she counted as 7.5-7.9 (if it works like that).

It may just be Wikipedia with unreliable information, but these are the two articles i read. I'll let you make your own mind up. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyclone_Monica

Anyone can edit that, I put official data in and people just changed it. I think that is why it says the pressure is disputed. I saw Dvorak estimates as high as 7.5 for Monica. The pressure estimates for the Dvorak technique are only estimates for that windspeed with a set TC size and set background pressure so I really wouldn't use them.