Whiritoa Wind Stats

This image describes how frequently and how strongly the wind blows from different directions over a normal December. The longest spokes point in the directions the wind most commonly blows from and the shade of blue suggests the strength, with the darkest shade of blue strongest. It is based on 3448 NWW3 forecasts of wind since since 2006, 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. Without question 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 diagram shows a close to circular outline, it means there is no strong bias in wind direction at Whiritoa. On the other hand, dominant spokes represent favoured directions, and the more the darkest shade of blue, the stronger the wind. Spokes point in the direction the wind blows from. During a typical December, the model suggests that winds are light enough for the sea to be glassy (the lightest shade of blue) about 11% of the time (3 days each December) and blows offshore 48% of the time (2 days in an average December). Over an average December wind stronger than >40kph (25mph) was predicted for only a single days at Whiritoa

read more