Strongest? How soon history is rewritten. Camille had winds of 200mph at landfall in Mississipi. Ironically news says that shelters in Mexico are military staffed and fully stocked with food and water. Let’s see. If true, shame on FEMA here.
They are saying it the strongest recorded for the Pacific coast.
Camille is estimated to have had gusts of 200 mph but the sustained winds topped out at 190 mph. Actual top end is estimated as the measurement instruments were destroyed during the hurricane’s impact.
http://www.hurricanescience.org/history/storms/1960s/camille/
Uh....no. The winds were ESTIMATED at 190 mph....which was probably an over-estimation. The estimated surface winds were almost always over-estimated before the tools for better measurement came online (like SFMR). They did a simple calculation of the lowest pressure and gradient...which doesnt take other factors into account (such as the storm's ability to translate those winds down to the surface). When the re-analysis is done for Camille it is likely the winds will be brought down 20 mph or so.
Until that time, however, the max sfc winds were 190...not 200. But again...those are certainly too high and will be lowered by the re-analysis project being done by the NHC. What we do know is Camille has a surface pressure of 900 mb...Patricia is 20 mb lower than that. We also know Camille's pressure gradient wasn't as tight as Patricia's...which means Patricia's winds are higher. That's a scientific fact.
Those were estimates - modern data is more reliable. One thing for certain, Patricia has significantly lower central pressure, and that is a leading indicator of storm strength.
Nope. Top sustained winds were 175mph. Still a monster.
I can remember as a kid, before they had better forecasting tools, weathermen were saying this thing was 2 days out, and it could go anywhere from Galveston to Tampa.