"mikeyp" wrote ...
I've been looking at the wind speeds on the Met Office site for the
London area over the next couple of days but am confused about the
status of the wind speeds shown and would really appreciate some
help understanding this.

There are often two indicators shown, the mean speed shown in a
'circle' symbol and, sometimes, a red box directly below showing the
speed of gusts. I'm curious why there doesn't seem to be a
correlation between the mean and the gusts. For example, the
sequence 09.00 -18.00 Monday shows mean speeds of 23 mph (09.00), 35
at 12.00, 46 at 15.00 and 29 at 18.00. However, the only gust
indication shown is at 18.00 (50 mph).
snip

.... does look odd: this is the 'official' key

http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/weather/uk/guide/key.html

and that doesn't help. I would guess that there is a 'cut-off' in the
algorithm used to generate the gust speed display that only allows
gusts to be shown where they are greater than "xx" mph above than the
mean, with an under-pinning minimum value.

All I can suggest is that you send your query to the Met Office
(address on the home page) and ask them.

Martin.



--
Martin Rowley
West Moors, East Dorset (UK): 17m (56ft) amsl
Lat: 50.82N Long: 01.88W
NGR: SU 082 023