Maine saw some of the strongest winds of the decade yesterday, bringing with it downed limbs, trees and power lines. Even a massive communications tower on top of Sugarloaf couldn't withstand the strong winds. There's one place in New England that is used to strong winds, but even there winds were unlike anything in recent years.

At the Mt. Washington Observatory, meteorologists were geeking out over the winds, watching data from the anemometer outside as the wind gusts kept getting stronger and stronger overnight Monday.

They had a live stream going at one point showing the real-time data as well as a live feed showing the instrument tower atop the observatory.

Throught the night winds frequently gusted over 150 MPH, but they had on particular spike that set and all-time record for the strongest wind gust in February at 171 MPH. That's as powerful at a category 5 hurricane! Enough to send the readings on this Hays Chart that records wind speed, completely off the chart.

The average wind speed on top of the mountain during the storm was 138 MPH at 7 p.m. Monday. That's just crazy!

 

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