Gust factors for thunderstorm and non-thunderstorm winds

This paper presents the investigation of gust factors under two different weather systems namely the monsoon and thunderstorm (TS) wind systems in Singapore. Data from two meteorological stations in Singapore were used for analysis. In addition, two TS events monitored from other measuring stations in Singapore are also reported. It is found that the gust factors for TS winds are generally larger than those of monsoon winds. While 10 min to an hour is appropriate to be used as base period to calculate the gust factors for monsoon winds, this may not be applicable for TS winds. It is suggested that 5-10-min averaging periods can be used for TS winds. Furthermore, the gust factors calculated based on the hourly mean are about 1.5-2.0 times those based on 10-min mean. For extreme cases the values can go as high as 3.0. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.