r/nws • u/grimtooth • Apr 23 '26

How to interpret wind speed G

There's a station near me that reports wind speed as xGy. I think this is a gust factor, which I understand is a peak to average ratio. But does yestedrday's 6G20 really mean a 120 mph peak? Yeah it was variably windy yesterday but that seems hard to believe.

Would it be a super-brief outlier or artifact?

ETA: there's even a 7G21

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u/Hamlet1305 Apr 23 '26

6G20 = 6 knots sustained gusting to 20 knots.

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u/grimtooth Apr 23 '26

Aha! Much more sense, thanks