Chinook

The wind speeds are the bright colors, regardless of wind direction. in this case, it is a slice from west to east across the hurricane, so west is to the left. The 64 knot winds (hurricane force) are purple and higher, and the 96 knot winds (category 3) are light pink and other pink colors. The isotherms (0 degree C, -12 degree C, -18 degree C) are the small dashed lines that bump up in the middle of the storm. Hurricanes concentrates the warmer air at the eye, due to the latent heat release at the eyewall. The solid black lines are a little confusing as it represents potential temperature. When they dip down, then it is warmer. The 96 knots to maybe 115 knots on the east side of the eye reach very high into the air, about 35000 feet. Winds weaken at 40000 feet. The west side of the storm has some slightly different qualities in terms of how the winds change with height. The gray bump is due to the fact that the sea level pressure is around 950 mb, which is much different than the typical 1000mb. The highest winds are above the surface, but certainly winds of up to 120 knots are not far from the surface. This is a 12 hour forecast from the HWRF, for 06z

Buoy 42026 with 63mph gusting to 85mph wind (time: 0135z)

latest storm cross-section

first gust of 46 knots at Key West

18z cross-section of this storm (HWRF)

storm cross-section for tonight (00z)

western Caribbean composite radar

Here is some info you didn't want to hear: #3 Hottest summer at Denver, #3 Fort Collins, #1 Cheyenne

I hope this doesn't sound dumb, but Super Typhoon Haiyan set a record, I believe with satellite-estimated 195mph winds, (with 1-minute winds, JTWC-American style) and it directly affected Tacloban city, with a storm surge that came in almost as fast as a tsunami. So, yeah, I can't think of anything more devastating. according to Wikipedia: Syper Typhoon Noru--I don't believe I've ever heard of a storm that went from 50mph to 155mph in official (satellite) analysis in roughly 24 hours (correct?) I watched a 16-hour loop on Tropical Tidbits yesterday and that showed pretty much the entire development cycle.

I think I see some yellow aspen trees

Observations now with post-tropical Hurricane Fiona

peak wind gust 84 at St Paul Island

Hours ago, Sydney airport had to estimate the sea-level pressure to be 949.5mb edit: also 940.0 mb (Grand Etang, on the Cape Breton penninsula)

44 knots gusting to 65 knots now at Sydney East Point (CWEP): 010 degrees, 56 knots gusting to 71 knots

Sydney 967.2 mb, increased temperature to 66F (19C)

974.4mb at Halifax airport

oh yeah, some times I completely forget that there are two ways for me to see Canadian radar data

Sable Island now back running, measures 69kt southeast wind gusts, so the lowest pressure must be close or past there

first wind gusts over 50 kts in Nova Scotia

Almost all stations in Nova Scotia are showing wind gusts over 30 knots

Sable Island Nova Scotia has wind sensors, pressure sensors not working

another storm cross section ( compare to my post from before)

Now I'm starting to see much more influence of the colder air, out to the west of the hurricane, on the cross section

Hurricane strength wind gusts directly measured this morning

E-W cross section of Hurricane Fiona, winds (colorized), isotherms of 0C, -12C, -18C, (blue, purple) isentropic surfaces (black), The thing that looks like a hill at the middle of the picture is a little confusing. The sea-level pressures of the storm are below 1000mb, with a strong gradient down to a recon-measured 937mb, I believe. 1000mb is the bottom of the image, so it must show the 937mb pressure as a hill shape. You can see the 0C, -12C, and -18C isotherms bump up in the middle, as well as the isentropic surfaces bump down. That means that the core of the hurricane is the location where the latent heat release has warmed the atmosphere the most. And then there's the 128kt wind in the eyewall, reducing to 20kt in the eye. It does show asymmetry.