Albatross Wind Stats

The figure describes how frequently and how strongly the wind blows from different directions through a typical December. The biggest spokes point in the directions the wind most commonly blows from and the shade of blue suggests the strength, with the strongest winds shown by deep blue. It is based on 3448 NWW3 forecasts of wind since since 2006, at 3hr intervals, for the closest NWW3 model node to Albatross, located 53 km away (33 miles). There are insufficient recording stations world wide to use actual wind data. Invevitably some coastal places have very localized wind effects that would not be predicted by NWW3. According to the model, the prevailing wind at Albatross blows from the SSW. If the rose plot shows a nearly round shape, it means there is no strong bias in wind direction at Albatross. By contrast, dominant spokes represent favoured directions, and the more deep blue, the stronger the wind. Spokes point in the direction the wind blows from. Over an average December, the model suggests that winds are light enough for the sea to be glassy (light blue) about 10% of the time (3 days each December) and blows offshore 41% of the time (4 days in an average December). During a typical December wind stronger than >40kph (25mph) was predicted for only a single days at Albatross

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