Extreme wind warning

An extreme wind warning is an alert issued by the National Weather Service for areas on land that will experience sustained surface winds 115 miles per hour or greater within one hour. As of 2025, it has only been used for the eyewalls of major hurricanes when they pass near-shore, and during and shortly after landfall, but it is also intended as a general “short-fused” warning for any immediate occurrence of such winds. Extreme wind warnings are issued for as precise of an area as possible, in like manner as a tornado warning, to provide guidance to the general public at the county and sub-county level when such winds pose a significant threat of casualties. They cannot be issued earlier than two hours before the onset of extreme winds.