Massachusetts’ Strongest Recorded Winds

The winter of 2023-2024 was wet and windy, with much flooding and wind damage throughout the New Bedford area and statewide.

One storm in particular on Monday, December 18, 2023 sent meteorologists scrambling for the record books but alas, as windy as it was, records were never in jeopardy of falling.

CBS News Boston reported the wind storm was a humdinger "bringing down trees onto power lines and leaving more than 250,000 customers without power."

The station reported, "There was a ground stop at Logan Airport for several hours because of the high winds."

The Blue Hill Observatory reported a wind gust of 90 mph in Milton, 80 mph in Mashpee, 75 in Rockport, 71 in Fairhaven and 64 mph in Fall River.

The minimum sustained surface wind speed for a hurricane is 74 mph.

My wife and I endured Hurricane Bob while visiting Martha's Vineyard in 1991. We experienced wind gusts of 117 mph in Vineyard Haven. Mass.gov says Brewster and Truro experienced gusts of 125 mph, with Truro reporting sustained winds of 100 mph.

Southeastern Massachusetts recorded a sustained wind of 75 to 100 mph during Bob.

In 1954, Hurricane Carol subjected our area to sustained winds of 85 to 100 mph, and Edna packed 75-95 mph sustained winds less than two weeks later.

Like many other weather-related records, however, the record for wind speeds in Massachusetts occurred during the Great New England Hurricane in September of 1938.

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Mass.gov says, "The winds were devastating, with the Blue Hill Observatory recording the strongest winds ever for the region, 121 mph sustained winds and gusts of 186 mph."

The site says, "Roofs, trees, and crops were extensively damaged, and power outages were widespread, lasting for weeks in some areas."

Sections of New Bedford were buried under eight feet of wind-driven water during the storm.