Daily Archives: January 9, 2012

A wind gust is a sudden, brief increase in the speed of the wind followed by a lull. According to National Weather Service observing practice, gusts are reported when the peak wind speed reaches at least 18 mph and the variation in wind speed between the peaks and lulls is at least about 10 mph. The strongest wind gust recorded occurred at Australia’s Barrow Island, with a gust of 253 mph that occurred during tropical cyclone Olivia on April 10, 1996. Continue reading →