Hurricane Otis Produced One of the Strongest Wind Gusts Ever Recorded, Over 200 mph
A team of researchers from the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) have recovered incredible data from a weather station in Acapulco Bay, after it survived an encounter with category 5 hurricane Otis last week. This includes one of the highest wind gusts ever recorded on earth, topping out at 204.9 mph (329.76 km/h)!
Data from the two weather stations (pictured above) operated by UNAM was cut off due to the loss of power during Otis's landfall, but a team of researchers visited the site in person to recover this incredible information.
Few records exist with gusts topping 200 mph, partly due to the destruction of equipment during such intense storms. The research team highlighted the sturdy construction of their station in the thread. Only a few records exist of stronger gusts, including the Mt. Washington, NH, which measured a gust of 231 mph in 1934. It held the record for strongest gust until Cyclone Olivia hit Barrow Island, Australia in 1996 with a gust topping 254 mph!
The research team posted a thread to X, highlighting some other interesting data from the storm, including an impressive pressure drop of more than 50 mb. Strom surge measured was thankfully quite low at this location, only about 17 inches and it occurred during a low tide.
Otis's strong winds have left the city in almost complete destruction, where the death toll has topped 45 with many still missing.
