sustained wind
Constant air movement
Sustained wind is the average wind speed measured over a standard interval, typically one minute in the United States or ten minutes internationally.
Weather services use sustained wind rather than gusts to characterize storms and issue warnings: The hurricane made landfall with sustained winds of 120 miles per hour.
The distinction matters because gusts—brief spikes in wind speed—can be significantly higher than sustained measurements.
- steadyFixed, not fluctuating
- gale forceViolent wind intensity
- constantFixed, unvarying quantity
- velocityDirected rate of motion
- hurricaneViolent tropical windstorm
tropical storm · storm · storm warning · weather report · breeze · persistent · continuous · blowing · knots · miles per hour · anemometer · howling · relentless · force · meteorology · tropical · cyclone · forecast
- weather datatemperature, humidity, rainfall, snowfall, air pressure
- windbreeze, gale, gust, gusts, crosswinds
- Weather Measurementsbarometric pressure, atmospheric pressure, dew point, relative humidity, temperature
sustain, sustained, sustaining, sustains, sustainable, unsustainable, sustainability, sustenance, sustainer