Wind breaks record, property
by From staff reports
published January 26, 2006 6:00 am
Wednesday’s winds broke records, along with windows, floors and walls at a local tourism spot.
The visitor center at Grandfather Mountain took a beating during morning winds too strong for U.S. Weather Service equipment to measure accurately.
Winds knocked over a 300-pound boulder cemented to the visitor center parking lot, Grandfather Mountain spokeswoman Catherine Morton said in a news release. The gusts tore tiles off the floor, shattered three reinforced windows and opened a locked door.
A reading of 200 mph for some gusts broke Grandfather’s record of 195.5 mph set on April 18, 1997. But speeds could have been higher, Morton said, because the Weather Service’s anemometer only measures to 200.
The highest wind speed on record in the eastern United States was 231 mph at Mount Washington, N.H., in 1934, she said.
By Wednesday evening, Progress Energy crews had restored power to all 9,900 customers who had lost service after powerful winds toppled trees onto power lines. The outages were widely scattered across Buncombe and Haywood counties.
“We were able to get folks back on quickly,” spokesman Ken Maxwell said.
A high wind warning remained in effect for the mountains until 6 p.m. Wednesday, with sustained winds of 25 to 40 mph with gusts of up to 60 mph expected.
Last weekend, a day and a half of high winds accosted the mountains, toppling trees and tearing shingles from homes. The weather settles down today, with the forecast calling for mostly sunny skies with a high around 40.
Poster Comment:
The article did not mention that Grandfather recorded a 192mph wind last year, I think about this same time. Elevation ~6000 ft. We have off and on brutal winds throughout the area since Tuesday.