Stratton Mtn 143 mph!?!?!

[grouseking]

Does anyone know if there was really a gust to 143 mph up on Stratton mtn, VT? I heard Mountwashington gusted to 135 knots....which is about 155 mph so Washington still had the highest gust, but 143 seems like a real high number. I wonder how accurate the reading was.

grouseking

 

[Dugan]

I heard about this from Jade yesterday. We hiked Stratton together last weekend. Since I've not seen weather equipment at the true summit, I'm guessing this must've been at the ski area.

I don't know about the accuracy of the reading, I wondered about the accuracy of the location.

 

[weatherman]

Well, that seems to be what was reported, and the NWS discussion mentioned it... so perhaps not a fluke. It does seem really weird though, considering the gusts all around were no more than 80 mph. I would imagine there was tremendous tree damage in the area and significant damage to the fire tower and/or ski area structures if indeed the gust was that high. Maybe someone hiking or skiing today or tomorrow in the area could comment.

-Weatherman

 

[the starchild]

that's some serious wind, skiing would be difficult

 

[jade]

Mike Landon, the meterologist on WAMC (Albany NPR), reported 143 mph gust on Stratton Mountain ski area...on Friday....
I was driving Route 2 from Troy NY to Charlemont MA on Friday...As the wind blew my truck practically into the shoulder, I could see the other cars in front of me do the same thing, then we all corrected in unison as if on cue! I have a scratch on the rear quarter panel of my truck after swerving to miss the branches of a huge downed tree in the road...closer to home, I stopped and moved two trees--about 8 inches across--from the road....thank goodness they were well rotted and light weight birch trees....I was mucho happy to get home that evening!

...Jade

 

[grouseking]

Thats incredible. I'd like to know the instrument used. The only thing that makes me wonder is that maybe that area isn't used to seeing that kind of wind and the instrument didn't record the wind correctly. We know that the anemometers on Mount Washington are accurate because they are tested, and they need to work with hurricane force winds occurring often. I'm still skeptical, but if that was a true wind gust I can only imagine the blowdown situation.

grouseking