This paper presents an analysis of wind velocity measurements obtained from four ultrasonic anemometers arranged in a vertical formation. The anemometers were located in a rural environment with a view to providing detailed information on the flow statistics of the lower part of the atmospheric boundary layer, particularly for the extreme wind events that are important in loading calculations. The data is analysed using both conventional analysis and conditional sampling. The latter is combined with wavelet analysis in order to provide a detailed analysis of the energy/frequency relationship of the extreme events. The work presented in this paper suggests that on average the extreme events occur as a result of the superposition of two independent mechanisms - large scale events that scale on the atmospheric boundary layer thickness and small scale events a few tens of metres in size.