Lufthansa - lucky escape!!! 155mph winds

[zkvac]

I think the crosswind was 45 knots. We often get that here, but the wind is nearly always Northerly or Southerly, so WLG's runway (16/34) suits the weather well.

yup, wellington gets some bad crosswind...
http://youtube.com/watch?v=P_LaAkAyoz0&feature=related

Most of these are actually not crosswinds- just really strong Southerlies or Northerlies. You can tell because the aircraft aren't crabbing. Last year we had 180 km/h winds at one point, and the roof of the ANZ Koru Lounge blew off

[Seattle]

Remindes me of our Hannaku (however you spell it) Evening Storm. 70 mph sustained wind uprooted trees at SEA and smashed throught the glass walkway connecting the huge parking towers at SEA and the actual airport building..... I remember we were going to South Africa that day and I saw countless trees knocked over.....I think there were at least 4 trees blown over at my block.. that was an exciting adventure, as trees where everywhere. Also, the night before, we had very heavy rainfall (1-inch an hour) or saturated ground (we got 16 inches of rain in one month), which caused some unusual flooding.... I think the news said that SEA had to close becuase of to much water on the rwy.... :? Well, anyways, the main freeway running through downtown Seattle had to be closed becuase of like 7 ft of water onver the road :shock: . (I think there was a flash flood at my house )

[AirHanoverInternational]

In my active Navy time I stayed about 3.5 years at ETME (closed in 2005). We have had 1/19 which was pretty strange in an area with almost winds from the West. The funny thing was that we were able to find out who was on the approach: a Navy or an Air Force pilot. The Navy pilots were used to the situation but the Air Force pilots always had to fight for the course which you could see by the aircrafts movements.