Last night from 01:00 to 02:00 a weather station on the island of Sømna in Northern Norway measured a mean wind speed of 54.4 m/s:
This is a new wind speed record for Norway, deep into the extended Beaufort scale. Such weather goes so far beyond my experience that I don’t really understand what it entails, so I had a look around the internet. It turns out that this is in the same range as the winds recorded during tropical cyclone Olivia, which produced the highest gust on record back in 1996:
A part of me wishes I was there to witness it, the same part that wants to go to Nazaré after a heavy storm just to sit and watch the surf. Another part of me is quite content to have been in the comparatively quiet South while the weather was up, the same part that will keep me from ever surfing at Nazaré.
Has anyone here ever witnessed weather of this magnitude? Are there even words to describe it?
While this might seen extreme, it’s equal to just under 122mph. This is the upper range of a Cat 3 hurricane, and we generally encounter them every year here in the southeast of the USA.
Cat 4 and 5 hurricanes are becoming more common as ocean temps increase and more heat energy is available for storm intensification. Fort Myers Beach, FL was hit in Sep 2022 by Hurricane Ian with 154mph winds and a storm surge of about 14ft. Forty (40) Cat 5 hurricanes have made landfall in the Atlantic or Caribbean basin in the last 100 years.
During my time in the US Navy I have encountered winds of up to 90kts for sustained periods at sea. Not fun at all in a frigate or destroyer.