77mph Wind Gust at Dover AFB, DE!

KDOV 211451Z AUTO 33045G67KT 3/4SM R01/0600VP6000FT -TSRA SQ FEW004 BKN018 OVC026 24/19 A2995 RMK AO2 PK WND 33067/1450 RAB1451 TSB1405E1420B1423 PRESFR SLP144


A severe thunderstorm developed Sunday morning and produced a 77 mph wind gust at Dover AFB, DE around 11am. Above is the METAR report when the storm began, and I have placed in bold the maximum wind gust of 67 knots (77.2 mph). For those of you not familiar with weather coding, here are what a majority of those codes mean:


KDOV-->4-character station ID for Dover AFB
211451Z-->Date and time [21: 21st of the month, 1451Z: zulu time (10:51 eastern time)]
33045G67KT-->Direction wind is from (330°), sustained wind speed (45 kt), and maximum wind gust (67kt)
3/4SM-->Visibility in statute miles
-TSRA SQ-->Significant present weather...in this case, light thunderstorm (-TS), moderate rain (RA), and squalls (SQ)
FEW004 BKN018 OVC026-->Cloud conditions and cloud height in hundreds of feet (Few clouds at 400 feet, Broken clouds at 1800 feet, Overcast skies at 2600 feet)
24/19-->Temperature/Dewpoint in degrees celsius. Air temperature: 24°C (75.2°F), Dew Point Temperature: 19°C (66.2°F)
A2995-->Altimeter in hundredths of inches of mercury (A2995 = 29.95")
RAB 1451-->Remark indicating that rain began at 1451Z


See, you do learn something new everyday. Although Dover is over an hour away from Cambridge, I am a little jealous that all this exciting weather has occurred in or near areas I used to live. Here is a screenshot of the Dover radar when this storm produced 77 mph gusts at Dover...

I have never experienced a thunderstorm that produced wind gusts as strong as this storm in Dover...let alone the 70-85 mph gusts that the KC Metro experienced a few days ago. For comparison, hurricane-forced winds are 74 mph or greater. Speaking of hurricanes, time to keep an eye on Hurricane Irene...