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CWA retracts Orchid Island record wind speed claim

10/31/2024 02:02 PM
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A 10-meter-high wave lashes the shores of Orchid Island on Thursday. CNA photo Oct. 31, 2024
A 10-meter-high wave lashes the shores of Orchid Island on Thursday. CNA photo Oct. 31, 2024

Taipei, Oct. 31 (CNA) The Central Weather Administration (CWA) retracted its claim that Orchid Island had recorded Taiwan's highest-ever sustained wind speed Thursday, saying that in fact, it wasn't even close.

Earlier on Thursday, the CWA reported that Orchid Island, off Taiwan's southeast coast, had measured a sustained wind speed of 213 kilometers per hour, which it said was the highest ever at a staffed weather station.

The wind speeds were calculated based on a sustained 10-minute average, as Typhoon Kong-rey bore down on Taiwan from the southeast.

However, in a correction issued later Thursday morning, CWA forecaster Chu Mei-lin (朱美霖) said that after double-checking historical data, Thursday's wind speeds were still "quite a ways from" being a record.

Indeed, Thursday's wind speeds weren't even the highest on record for Orchid Island.

According to CWA data, Chu said, the highest sustained wind speeds ever recorded in Taiwan - both on Orchid Island - were 269 kph during Typhoon Betty in May 1961, and 253 kph during Typhoon June in August 1961.

(By Chang Hsiung-feng and Matthew Mazzetta)

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