14kts Gusting to 50kts @ CB, Real or a glitch?

[Teabag]

Hi everyone, yesterday there was a reading at 10:30 showing wind 14kts, gusting to 50kts!!!

I have been looking numerous times on the island wind graph when I am not kiting or after a session to see how strong can gust become.

Unfortunately I didn't collect this info in a folder for stats/history (I will be doing that now) but as far as I remember the strongest gust were always when it was 30kts+ out, and they usually are between 10 and 20 kts, not 36 kts like the one yesterday.

Example of strong reading/gust I have seen in the past:

-35kts, gust 50kts.
-28kts, gust 42kts.
-30kts gust 44kts
Etc...
Sometimes 17kts gust 29 kts, but usually when wind is under 20kts gust are not that big.

Anyhow, my question is:

Is it possible that this 50kts gust reading is more than likely a glitch in the anemometer?

Because if this reading was real it mean a certain death for someone riding a 12m-15m+. Unless you successfully pull the safety release before that gust hits but then it’s the sea lion that will get you

[eastside]

Duckbill and I were on the beach or more likely on the water and I sure didn't notice a 50 knot gust.... aquatic crop circle maybe????

[Windsurfish]

What would we have done in the face of these perils before the weather station? Must have been a dangerous world before.....

Probably the weather station was hit by a gust, and in the convening seconds, the resonant whip on the whippy Al post forced the meter against the tail of the gust, multiplying the reading.... or something like that...

[more force 4]

Rule of thumb for aberrant data is to treat it with extreme caution and assume that its an instrument or software error. I like WSFish's explanation of a 'resonant whip' on that anemometer

Not always the case though - I believe the huge peak waves measured during cross-seas off northern Vancouver Island are momentary but considered real. In data I've worked with (air-borne LiDAR) the algorythms used to create a bare-earth Digital Elevation Models normally strip away seemingly-false readings that are dramatically lower than the surrounding last-returns; but this is exactly what you'd expect (and what to look for) if you are looking for undiscovered caves or other karst features in limestone bedrock regions. So there, you need to look at the original point cloud viewed from sideways-underneath. Lots of fun!

[winddoctor]

Another cool one to add to the wind-lexicon: "Resonant Whip", as in, "Dude! it's 30 gusting sixty; I'm rigging the 3.2!". "Nah, brah, it's fully the Resonant Whip Factor that's skewing the data. Stick with the 4.2".

Sick.

[more force 4]

You definitely should add that definition and example, WindDoc, its hilarious! Where is that wind-lexicon anyway? SHould have it as a sticky or on the Wiki as a topic

Great example of a resonant whip at 4:40 AM at IV today (4 knots gusting 40). Except I doubt the mast mount was jumping around too much in the typical 10 knot gusts!

Weird thing happening when looking at the data table, its interpreting many of the barometric pressure readings as Skype-dialable phone numbers from Turkey, Poland, England, and Australia. I presume thats just something in my browser?

[~~~~~4j~~]

[eastside]

That's hilarious 4j. It seems I am the constant. Ever time the anomaly happens I am there.......a coincidence or ?????? Nice webcam shot

[skywalker]

teabag,

you know about these gusts well in advance. clearly.