Technical Abstract: Wind erosion events vary greatly in intensity from the incidental saltation during afternoon wind gusts to very intense events that result in large amounts of soil loss and fugitive dust. From analysis of 172 recorded wind erosion events at Big Spring, Texas, we found that the measured soil loss spanned four orders of magnitude, storm intensity was log normally distributed, 7 % of the total soil loss occurred during a single event, and half of the total soil loss occurred during the most intense 10 % of the events. We investigated the wind speed profiles at 1 sec intervals over several field surfaces using a mast of cup anemometers at 0.5, 1.0, and 2.0 m and a hot wire anemometer at 0.01 m. We found that for bare, tilled, and sparsely vegetated surfaces, the profiles and near-surface (0.01 m) wind speeds were consistent with the Prandtl equation for 2 m average wind speeds up to about 13 m/s. For 2 m average wind speeds above about 13 m/s, the wind speed profiles were less correlated with the Prandtl equation, the near surface wind speeds became much more erratic, and, for relatively bare flat surfaces, the 90th percentile near-surface wind speed often exceeded the 2m mean. In general, the effects noted on near-surface wind speed intensity and variability decreased with increasing surface roughness from closely spaced fresh tillage elements or standing crop residue.