The National Center for Atmospheric Research has confirmed that a 252-mph wind gust was measured in Hurricane Melissa , setting a new record for the highest wind speed reported by a dropsonde — a weather instrument released by Hurricane Hunter aircraft.

The dropsonde is a small weather station attached to a parachute that measures various weather elements as it descends to the Earth's surface, transmitting the data back to the aircraft.

The 252-mph wind gust measured by the dropsonde in Hurricane Melissa was recorded at 827 feet (250 meters) above the ocean on Oct. 28, the same day Melissa made landfall in Jamaica as a Category 5 storm. The previous record for a dropsonde measurement was 248 mph, taken during Typhoon Megi over the Western Pacific in 2010.

Because the reading wasn'

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