While "windiest" is often a title shared by several locations, Barrow Island in Australia holds the world record for the strongest wind gust ever recorded on an island, reaching 253 mph (408 km/h) during a cyclone in 1996. However, if you are looking for the island with the most consistent, high-velocity winds, many meteorologists point to Mount Washington (which is on a "land island" peak) or the Kerguelen Islands in the southern Indian Ocean. These French-owned islands, known as the "Desolation Islands," sit directly in the "Roaring Forties" and "Furious Fifties" wind belts, experiencing gale-force winds for nearly 300 days a year. Another famous contender is Wellington, New Zealand, which is located on the southern tip of the North Island and is widely considered the windiest city in the world due to the "funneling" effect of the Cook Strait, where average wind speeds often exceed 16 mph with frequent gusts over 100 mph.