Monday, 29 April 2002
Additional Insights into Hurricane Gust Factors
A gust factor is defined as the ratio between the peak and mean wind speeds from a given data segment. Historical research has yielded conflicting results in comparing gust factors determined from extratropical and tropical systems. Some research has indicated higher gust factors are found within hurricanes, while other research contradicts this and indicates no differences exist between various system types. Given additional high-resolution surface wind speed data is now available from field efforts over the past four years, additional and new gust factor comparisons will be made using data from various storms including Hurricanes Bonnie (1998), Dennis and Floyd (1999), and Gordon (2000).
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