Wind Gust Climatology for Southern South Carolina and Northeast Coastal Georgia

This study profiles climatological wind gust conditions for the NWS Charleston, SC warning area and uses climatological trends to establish guidelines for forecasting wind gusts on fair-weather days. This study focuses on gust factor trends, a ratio of wind gust speed to sustained wind speed. Forecasters at the NWS Charleston, SC office use gust factors to generate wind gust forecasts, but have applied this parameter with little observational support.

Using archived weather data from 2007 to 2011 at 12 land and 2 marine sites, we identified trends in wind conditions and noted differences between land and open water locations. We determined that sustained wind and respective wind gust trends are highly correlated. Furthermore, over land, gust factors are inversely related to sustained wind speed.