In message , Col
writes

"Alan White" wrote in message
.. .
On Sun, 3 Dec 2006 14:19:26 +0000, John Hall
wrote:

But isn't it the gusts that are going to do most of the damage? That
seems to me to justify quoting them, though not to the exclusion of the
mean speed.

In a forecast, yes, but in a report, no.

But surely a report of max gust is as valuable a
piece of weather data as mean speed?

Especially when you bear in mind that the force exerted by the wind is
proportional to the square of the wind speed. This is why strong gusts
are potentially so damaging.

Norman.
(delete "thisbit" twice to e-mail)
--
Norman Lynagh Weather Consultancy
Chalfont St Giles 85m a.s.l.
England