What does “maximum sustained wind” mean ? How does it relate to gusts in tropical cyclones?
India Meteorological Department (IMD) uses a 3 minutes averaging for the sustained wind. The maximum sustained wind mentioned in the bulletins used by IMD is the highest 3 minutes surface wind occurring within the circulation of the system. These surface winds are observed (or, more often, estimated) at the standard meteorological height of 10 m (33 ft) in an unobstructed exposure (i.e., not blocked by buildings or trees). The National Hurricane Centre uses a 1 minute averaging time for reporting the sustained wind. Some countries also use 10 minutes averaging time for this purpose. While one can utilize a simple ratio to convert from peak 10 minute wind to peak 1 minute wind or 3 minute wind, such systematic differences to make interbasin comparison of tropical cyclones around the world is problematic. However there is no significant difference between the maximum sustained wind reported in different basis with different averaging method.
