Thanks Stephen. The wind gusts tend to come in gales or at least with Fran they did. The intervals were not consistent that I recall but the winds tended to well up and get louder as the gale got closer. You would hear crashing or tree limbs snapping. The gale was then upon you for a minute or so. Then it would die down again while you waited for the next one. Like some twisted chinese water torture you just hoped the next one that came was not stronger and put a tree on your home. This went on for agonizing hours. Night time was the worst