It pisses me off when someone reports that the Hurricane is now a Cat 5 with 170 mph wind speed, and they NEVER tell you the altitude from which that windspeed is derived. I suspect they are making statement based on Max Sustained Windspeed (avg peek over 1 minute) at flight level (10,000 ft.) At surface level, the max sustained windspeed is going to be much, much less.
But my question is this:
If I look at current Milon windspeed at 10 m above surface, I cannot see anything higher than 68 mpg. Yet YT weather sources are reporting Milton has strengthened to CAT 5 with 170 mph winds.
Even at 10K ft., I only see 90 mph windspeed. I do see Wind Gust speed up to 110 mph, but gust are gust.
Why such huge difference between what Weather people report and what the Satellite's report?
I have done a moderate amount of reading to try and answer my own question. I have read that when storm Max Sustained is reported, the standard is suppose to be 10 m above surface. But I doubt this is adhered too.
Fear sells more than cuddly kittens. It doesn't matter right now if the winds are 60mph or 175mph, measurements only matter when the hurricane hits land. Then one can project the amount of damage that could be sustained. I say let's track all airplanes heading into and around the Gulf and then determine which one's are seeding the hurricane. Maybe then we can track the planes and figure out from whence they come. Wouldn't it be nice to talk to the flight crew and see what their orders entailed?