The most extreme wind speed ever recorded outside of a tornado was documented on this day during Tropical Cyclone Olivia on Barrow Island, Australia but almost 14 years would pass until it became an official world record.
The phenomenal wind speed reached an astonishing 408 kilometres per hour (253 miles per hour), which represents an unprecedented meteorological event. This measurement was officially verified and stands as a remarkable testament to the potential intensity of tropical cyclones in the region.
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Tropical Cyclone Olivia bore down on tiny Barrow Island, just off the coast of western Australia in April 1996.
An individual mesovortex, a smaller-scale circulation embedded within Olivia's eyewall, produced five extreme 3-second wind gusts, the peak of which was a 253 mph gust on April 10.
For reference, this brief gust was more than 11 mph faster than the Indy car world record of 241.428 mph by Gil de Ferran in 2000.
These extreme gusts weren't made public during the storm, as the anemometer was owned by a private company, Chevron.
Even after the storm, forecasters at Australia's Bureau of Meteorology were made aware of this data but were suspicious of the data quality, given the values measured.
A 2009 report had to be submitted to a weather and climate extremes committee of the World Meteorological Organization for the wind gusts to be considered.
In early 2010, this new world record surface wind speed became official.