[John H K]

I'm about 99.99% sure that some idiot at AP did the knots/mph conversion wrong.

55 kt tropical storms don't have 140 mph gusts.

Officially, gusts are up to 65 kts (75 mph.)

I've seen no recon or buoy or ship data with anything resembling 140 mph gusts.

[N. Theknow]

Yup.

"My Weatherbug" doesn't make any mention of gusts of that magnitude.

[justlurking]

I'm about 99.99% sure that some idiot at AP did the knots/mph conversion wrong.

This statement says that "tropical force winds extend out to 140 miles from the center". The reporter may have just associated the wrong number with the wind guests.