"Freddie" wrote in message
.. .
On Sat, 27 Aug 2011 12:02:48 +0100, Fonzy wrote:
cool, but what number was it?

Just about scraped a 1 for a short time.

Yes, that has long been my understanding of it.
A few very exposed south coast locations managed a 10-minute
mean of 72 mph..

But that's a *mean* wind speed of course. A gust to hurricane
strength is nothing unusual and ocurrs around coasts & hills every
year in winter, and isn't particualrly unusual in many inland areas
either.

This is the basis of much angst amoung metereologists when
people think a gust of around 30 mph constitutes a 'gale' when
in fact it's nothing of the sort, you need an average wind speed
of that to be classed as a gale, which is a whole different exprerience.
--
Col

Bolton, Lancashire
160m asl