• After witnessing the continued decrease of involvement in the SpotterNetwork staff in serving SN members with troubleshooting issues recently, I have unilaterally decided to terminate the relationship between SpotterNetwork's support and Stormtrack. I have witnessed multiple users unable to receive support weeks after initiating help threads on the forum. I find this lack of response from SpotterNetwork officials disappointing and a failure to hold up their end of the agreement that was made years ago, before I took over management of this site. In my opinion, having Stormtrack users sit and wait for so long to receive help on SpotterNetwork issues on the Stormtrack forums reflects poorly not only on SpotterNetwork, but on Stormtrack and (by association) me as well. Since the issue has not been satisfactorily addressed, I no longer wish for the Stormtrack forum to be associated with SpotterNetwork.

    I apologize to those who continue to have issues with the service and continue to see their issues left unaddressed. Please understand that the connection between ST and SN was put in place long before I had any say over it. But now that I am the "captain of this ship," it is within my right (nay, duty) to make adjustments as I see necessary. Ending this relationship is such an adjustment.

    For those who continue to need help, I recommend navigating a web browswer to SpotterNetwork's About page, and seeking the individuals listed on that page for all further inquiries about SpotterNetwork.

    From this moment forward, the SpotterNetwork sub-forum has been hidden/deleted and there will be no assurance that any SpotterNetwork issues brought up in any of Stormtrack's other sub-forums will be addressed. Do not rely on Stormtrack for help with SpotterNetwork issues.

    Sincerely, Jeff D.

HIGH WIND EVENT FOR 12-8-09

  • Thread starter Thread starter Jason Boggs
  • Start date Start date
Here is the video from today. The first part of the clip was taken on the south side of Amarillo. The rest of the video was taken between Canyon and Tulia.

HIGH WIND AND BLOWING DUST
 
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222mph gust...that's hard to believe. I'm sure it's a false reading.
 
I wouldn't discount it just because you haven't heard about it. It's a serious weather station operated by NM Tech University.

I'm skeptical of course because winds that high are very hard to record, especially with an anemometer that has moving parts. Mount Washington uses a device that is similar to how airplanes measure air speed...and it's heated to 300 degrees.

With 100mph gusts in the nearby mountain passes, 150 to 180 mph doesn't seem unreasonable on the summits...with gusts 30% higher. On Mount Washington if there were 100mph winds in the nearby notches then 150mph gusts were not uncommon (so was instrument failure due to icing).
 
How would you verify something like that? I would imagine a wind gust that high would destroy the anemometer.

The wind data came back online a few hours after the big gusts so maybe it wasn't destroyed. Even if it was you could salvage the working parts and recreate the rest.

I still haven't seen anything in the news, maybe this story is dying with the likelihood of it actually being an accurate measurement.
 
If you click on the display again, go to the right and there's a link to their homepage, with webcams, archived data, etc. And contact info for the observatory.
 
I wouldn't discount it just because you haven't heard about it. It's a serious weather station operated by NM Tech University.

I'm skeptical of course because winds that high are very hard to record, especially with an anemometer that has moving parts. Mount Washington uses a device that is similar to how airplanes measure air speed...and it's heated to 300 degrees.

With 100mph gusts in the nearby mountain passes, 150 to 180 mph doesn't seem unreasonable on the summits...with gusts 30% higher. On Mount Washington if there were 100mph winds in the nearby notches then 150mph gusts were not uncommon (so was instrument failure due to icing).

Bill,

as I can see on that Wunderground link with all data from that day, they have a multisensor from VAISALA called WXT510 (see here: http://www.vaisala.com/instruments/products/weathermultisensor.html). This multisensor has no moving parts and additionally, it has an ultrasonic anemometer. And such US anemometers are usually pretty accurate and are in use very often.

However, there are at least three things that I don't like or don't get it from their observatory:

1. WX510 is definatelly not a sensor that is good for such peaks like Magdalena Ridge Observatory in NM is, atop of 10kft summit. Its measurement range is only up to 60m/s (135mph) and if it goes above those values, then it becomes increasingly non accurate. Also, WXT510 has quite a big problem with heating in such extreme conditons. It usually works okay with normal freezing and ice all around, but not so easy in those extremes up there. While the best sensor for extreme conditions is VAISALA WS425 F/G which has its measurement range up to almost 200mph and is pretty accurate. And it can stand such robust conditions that are expected on such summits. But thats just an example of good sensor, we don't know exactly which they have there.

2. As we can see from the data on Wunderground, immediatelly after that measurement of 220mph all sensors were going out of control and most of them did not return into normal mode. This definatelly shows there was a problem with that sensor. Also, notice the high amount of precipitation; this multisensor is not very successful for rainfall measurements and that high value (200mm+) again shows there has to be something wrong of with the sensor or with the mounting pole (vibrations).

3. Ultrasonic sensor must have very robust and extremely strong mounting poles to withstand all the vibrations (micro vibrations) that are present in strong winds. If the pole is vibrating, then it usually measures very strange values. Its hard to figure out if they're in plus or in minus from the normal value which should be measured. Thats why it has to be very powerful pole.

So based on these concerns, I'd not believe that value is accurate. However, even it says WX510 there, I am not sure they have that sensor.

If any of you already sent an email to them, let us know, otherwise I'll write them some questions as I am quite interested in their measurements there. Especially about the mounting poles, sensor type, heating, etc.

Cheers,
Marko
 
Thanks for the input Marko, some great feedback on the topic. I was never able to get onto their site so I never saw their equipment.

An ultrasonic in those weather conditions...it's not looking good. On Mount Washington we only played around with an ultrasonic during the summer. They might do some experimenting in the winter with one, but it is not their primary anemometer. The static pitot tube on Mount Washington is heated to 300 degrees in the winter and it still gets iced up!
 
Hi Bill,

Ah that is even better idea, I agree. Static pitot tube is the perfect thing for such locations. I am glad they're using it as a primary anemometer.

Just fo the record; We experinced extreme 120mph winds during the last 36hrs, here is one example of gust measured along the highway here close to me....

http://img198.imageshack.us/img198/4192/151220091874.jpg

We often get those here, so its nothing uncommon. However, this time it was TOP3 with those high speeds.

Marko
 
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