Fastest wind ever measured by radar

What to remember

Inside the 2013 El Reno tornado, RaXPol, a mobile radar owned and operated by the University of Oklahoma, recorded winds of up to 150 metres per second, or 540 km/h (340 mph). No radar had ever observed faster winds.

The radar looked inside the tornado itself, whereas wind speed is more commonly measured with an anemometer.

In meteorology, wind speed is a fundamental atmospheric quantity. Air moves from high to low pressure, usually because of temperature differences, and its direction runs almost parallel to the isobars because of Earth's rotation. Wind speed matters for weather forecasting, aviation, maritime operations and construction projects, and it even affects how many plant species grow.