183 mph Winds in CA, Windy at Area 51

UPDATE: Wind speeds have been updated below as of Thursday morning.

Extreme winds are tearing through the high elevations of California and Nevada with this latest western storm. One of the Nevada Test Site weather stations, called "Area 19", which is 20 miles southwest of Area 51 (no kidding) reported a 92 mph gust early Thursday morning.

But even if the aliens were involved with that wind gust, they couldn't beat the 167 mph gust confirmed by the NWS at Alpine Meadows, CA, or the 183-mph gust that they did not confirm at Lee Vining Hill, CA (but which I see no reason to doubt, looking at the data -- winds were sustained at 128 mph at the time and the station is nearly 9,000 feet up). Wave heights of nearly 30 feet were reported near shore, with buoys probably seeing more than that.

WIND GUSTS OVER 75 MPH (NOT INCLUDING BUOYS):

Lee Vining Hill, CA: 183 mph**
Alpine Meadows, CA: 167 mph*
Slide Mountain (Mount Rose), NV: 135 mph*
Mount Warren, CA: 130 mph**
Mammoth, CA: 126 mph*
Near Reno, NV: 112 mph (Estimated 117 mph)*
Galena, NV: 112 mph
Virginia Peak, NV: 106 mph
Mogul, NV: 92 mph*
Area 19, NV: 92 mph**
Gardnerville, NV: 80 mph*
Area 09, NV: 92 mph**
Washoe Valley, NV: 91 mph*
White Mountain, CA: 91 mph
Five Mile, CA: 89 mph**
Lyons Valley, CA: 88 mph
Squaw Valley, CA: 85 mph*
Walker Lake, NV: 84 mph*
Bridgeport, CA: 83 mph
Santa Barbara, CA: 83 mph
Bridgeport, CA: 83 mph*
Whitaker Peak, CA: 100 mph***
Walker Lake, CA: 84 mph
Duncan, CA: 79 mph
Big Rock, CA: 78 mph
Area A12, NV: 79 mph**

*Verified by NWS in Local Storm Report data.
**Added or increased since last report.
***NWS verification does not match data at URL.

And the winds are still going. I'll post an update to this list tomorrow, if neccessary, in this blog entry. has the details (PREMIUM | PRO) on where exactly the highest winds will be in Southern California tonight and tomorrow.