Meteorologists have been taken by surprise after a potentially record-breaking wind gust was recorded in a hilly resort in California in the early morning of Sunday. An unverified 209-mph wind gust was recorded by the National Weather Service (NWS) office in Reno on Kirkwood Mountain as reported by the Associated Press. The instrument is located in a ski resort south of Lake Tahoe at an altitude of 9,186 feet.
Apart from being the highest wind speed, the state of California has recorded until now, it is likely to shatter multiple records if the reading is confirmed. This will also rank as the third all-time verified recorded wind speeds in the world and second highest in the United States.
The wind speed hasn’t been verified by climatologists till now. It may actually take days to get absolute certainty.
The current gust speed record for California is 199 miles per hour, which was recorded at Ward Mountain, on November 16, 2017.
This wind speed has been recorded amidst a cold storm sweeping through California bringing with it snow, rain, hail and high wind speed.
As a matter of fact, the weather station at Kirkwood was also measuring 92 percent humidity during the same period, something that indicates potential technical problems.
Image Credits – SnowBrains
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