What are sustained winds?
Sustained winds are winds that last for periods of about one hour or longer. Our wind strength probabilities are given for sustained winds only. Sustained winds are to be distinguished from local wind gusts resulting from squall lines, tornadoes and thunderstorms that can be much stronger (50 to 150 percent higher) and very short lived – lasting for a few seconds up to 20-30 minutes. We do not forecast the probability of these short period strong wind events that can at times cause significant additional damage.
