Just another hiking day in mid-October atop New Hampshire's Mt. Washington. Until a recent review of records by a WMO panel, the mountain site held the record for the fastest recorded wind speed in the world. (Vermont Daily News file photo)

 Mt. Washington, N.H. -  January 22, 2010  – Until recently, the world record for the fastest recorded wind speed was of 231 mph (372 km/h), registered in April 1934 across the summit of Mount Washington, USA.  According to a recent review of information conducted by a panel of experts in charge of global weather and climate extremes within the WMO Commission for Climatology (CCl) the record of wind gusts not related to tornados registered to date is 253mph (408 km/h) during Tropical Cyclone Olivia on April 10, 1996, at Barrow Island, Australia.

Surrounded by bitter cold, dense fog, and heavy snow, the 6288-foot summit Observatory is still declaring itself  ”Home of The World’s Worst Weather.”

Mt. Washington Observatory’s Marketing and Communications Coordinator Cara Rudio said, “As the Observatory’s marketing and communications coordinator, I’ve been fielding all sorts of inquiries from media outlets and Obs fans alike. One question that seems to be on everyone’s mind is: “why the heck did this take 14 years to figure out??”

The Panel consisted of the following experts: Dr Pierre Bessemoulin, MeteoFrance and President of CCl; Dr Tom Peterson, NOAA National Climatic Data Center; Dr Blair Trewin, Australian Bureau of Meteorology; Dr Jose M. Rubiera Torres, Cuban Instituto de Meteorología; Dr John (Jack) Beven, USA National Hurricane Center; Dr John King, British Antarctic Survey; Dr Randy Cerveny, Arizona State University and CCl Rapporteur of Climate Extremes.

The panel came to its conclusion after an extensive review and evaluation of instrumental, phenomenological and statistical data.

The WMO Commission for Climatology provides more information about Global Weather and Climate Extremes at: http://wmo.asu.edu/

Hurricanes, cyclones and typhoons are different terms for the same weather phenomenon which is accompanied by torrential rain and maximum sustained wind speeds exceeding119 kilometers per hour. A hurricane with maximum sustained wind speeds exceeding 249 km/h is referred to as Category 5. More information in WMO fact sheet.

-Vermont Daily News report and WMO press release information