** Reply to note Robert Taylor


> I believe that Grant (a Tweeters fella) just returned from Guam -- it
> would be interesting to hear what he saw and learned about the current
> status. A major typhoon has recently devastated Guam and one of the
> successes had been the Marianas Crow situation on Andersen AFB. Winds were
> initially reported to 246 MPH but that was challenged by Mt Washington
> weather observatory and it was determined that the windspeed indicator
> failed at something around 180 and no conclusion supports the higher
> number.

Talk about the pot calling the kettle black. I and others have always opined that
the much-quoted Mt. Washington windspeed record (212 mph, I believe) is a
figment of someone's imagination. Mast anemometers are incapable of
determining these speeds (the cups usually spin off at 150 mph) so the only valid
way of estimating such high windspeeds is via doppler radar - something which
did not exist at the time of the Mt. Washington episode.

Oops, sorry. Birds... Re. the "randy" penguin article that Michael Price forwarded
yesterday: gives new meaning to the name Rockhopper Penguin, eh wot?

- Jack


Jack Bowling
RR1-S14-C41
Prince George, BC
Canada
V2N 2H8

phone: (250) 963-7837
fax: (250) 963-7801
jbowling at direct.ca