Spatial variations in gust factor across the coastal zone during Hurricane Opal in 1995

摘要

On 4 October 1995, Hurricane Opal made landfall near Pensacola Beach, Florida, as a marginal category 3 hurricane. On the basis of extensive surface wind data (including 4 buoys, 5 C-MAN and 32 land stations compiled by Lawrence et al. in 1998) the peak gust was found to be approximately 30 percent, 40 percent and 50 percent higher than the sustained wind speed across the coastal zone from deep water, near shoreline and on inland environments, respectively. These spatial variations are explained statistically and physically. Two formulas relating the gust factor and the exponent of the power-law wind profile are proposed for onshore and offshore applications.