Noel reads like a healthy warm core tropical cyclone that retained some of its original warm core while becoming frontal, and then proceeded to undergo warm seclusion, which began to dramatically enhance the already present residual warm core from its time of being purely tropical. I've been describing Noel to friends and in other posts as a "Hybrid Hurricane," for lack of a better title.

Stu Ostro has an excellent Noel post up in The Weather Channel's Blog, which strongly suggests the same perspective. Also, here is the Final Information Statement from the CHC, in which they note a peak gust of 112 mph in Meadowbrook.