Whiritoa Wind Stats

The figure illustrates how commonly and how strongly the wind blows from different directions over a normal May. The largest spokes point in the directions the wind most commonly blows from and the shade of blue implies the strength, with the darkest shade of blue strongest. It is based on 3440 NWW3 forecasts of wind since since 2007, at 3hr intervals, for the closest NWW3 model node to Whiritoa, located 32 km away (20 miles). There are not enough recording stations world wide to use actual wind data. No doubt some coastal places have very localized wind effects that would not be predicted by NWW3. According to the model, the prevailing wind at Whiritoa blows from the ENE. If the rose graph shows a fairly circular pattern, it means there is no strong bias in wind direction at Whiritoa. Converseley, dominant spokes represent favoured directions, and the more dark blue, the stronger the wind. Spokes point in the direction the wind blows from. During a typical May, the model suggests that winds are light enough for the sea to be glassy (light blue) about 10% of the time (3 days each May) and blows offshore 43% of the time (3 days in an average May). Over an average May winds stronger than >40kph (25mph) are expected on 2 days at Whiritoa

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