What is National Big Wind Day?
National Big Wind Day, which is observed in the United States each year, on April 12th, commemorates the detection of the world's highest natural wind gust measured on the Earth's surface. The Mount Washington Observatory recorded winds at 231 miles per hour on the afternoon of April 12, 1934.
Mount Washington is the highest peak in the Northeastern United States at 6,288 ft, and it is the most prominent mountain east of the Mississippi River.
The wind gusts from Mount Washington Observatory observers Wendell Stephenson, Alexander McKenzie, and Salvadore Pagliuca reported the wind gusts in 1934 from the Mount Washington Observatory. For many decades, the record has stood for many decades. In 1984, the observers returned to the observatory to commemorate the record-breaking wind's 50th anniversary. Then in 1996, the big wind award from atop Mount Washington fell. With wind gusts of 256 mph, a typhoon struck a small island off the coast of Australia.
