"That's a breeze..."

With the flutes I make, I always have to remind players that you should never have to blow hard on a native style flute, and that with mine, you blow even less than average for the best quality of sound. Gentle breaths go a long way.

Well, forget anything in the category of 'gentle breaths' for the next 24 hours. We've got a pretty blustery system encroaching on the Carolinas today, with high wind warnings in the mountains for 60mph+ gusts tonight. While not that strong in the Piedmont, gusts could still be hitting 30-40mph in the overnight hours. The main window for the strongest winds will be tonight from 9pm through mid-day Wednesday.

Being brain-dead for creative blog ideas today (I kept coming up with posts that just got too 'involved' for the time I had!), I thought I'd throw some wind tidbits your way...


Fastest wind speed recorded in nature:
301 mph (+/- 20mph)
tornado reading observed by a DOW (Doppler on wheels) radar
near Oklahoma City on May 3, 1999

Fastest recorded by anemometer:
231 mph (gauge then broke)
Mt. Washington Observatory, New Hampshire
April 12, 1934

Fastest daily average:
108 mph
Port Martin, Antarctica

Fastest recorded at Grandfather Mountain, NC:
196 mph
April 18, 1997

Average # of days/year with winds >100mph
at Grandfather Mountain:
6 days

Fastest recorded at Mount Mitchell, NC:
178 mph
State Climate Office of NC