Thunderstorm Wind Gust Hazards

Thunderstorm Wind Gust Hazards

RISK LEVEL	HAZARD DESCRIPTION
Low	Chance of a damaging wind gust (>57 mph or 50 kt) is in the 5-15% range. Strong wind gusts expected to be in the 39 to 57 mph (34-49 kt) range.
Moderate	Chance of a damaging wind gust (>57 mph or 50 kt) is in the 15-25% range. Damaging wind gusts expected to be in the 58 to 75 mph (50-64 kt) range.
High	Chance of a damaging wind gust (>57 mph or 50 kt) is greater than 25%. Destructive wind gusts expected to exceed 75 mph (64 kt) range.

The existing NWS WFO Newport/Morehead City Graphical Hazards have been discontinued due to technical issues. A new version of these hazards graphics is under development and will be implemented once it has passed an internal testing period. This will hopefully come in 2016, but we cannot estimate when at this time. We regret the inconvenience and hope you found the previous version of this webpage and graphics useful. We hope you will find the new version of this webpage just as useful when it comes online.

General Information

Strong winds in thunderstorms are often referred to as straight-line winds, downbursts, or microbursts.

Strong winds in thunderstorms often originate high up in the atmosphere, but are carried to the surface in downdrafts of rain cooled air.

Strong thunderstorm winds can exceed 100 mph and cause damage equal to a tornado. Strong thunderstorm winds are also very dangerous to aviation.