NIST BUILDING SCIENCE SERIES 174 Extreme Wind Distribution Tails: A ‘Peaks Over Threshold’ Approach E.Simiu1andN.A.Heckert2 1Building andFireResearch Laboratory National Institute ofStandards andTechnology Gaithersburg, MD 20899-0001 and Department ofCivil Engineering TheJohnsHopkinsUniversity Baltimore, MD 21218 2ComputingandAppliedMathematics Laboratory National Institute ofStandards andTechnology Gaithersburg, MD 20899-0001 Sponsored inpartby: National Science Foundation Arlington, VA 22230 March1995 U.S.DepartmentofCommerce RonaldH.Brown, Secretary Technology Administration MaryL.Good,Under Secretaryfor Technology National Institute ofStandardsandTechnology AratiPrabhakar, Director