Whiritoa Wind Stats

This picture shows how commonly and how strongly the wind blows from different directions over a normal October. The longest spokes point in the directions the wind most commonly blows from and the shade of blue implies the strength, with the strongest winds shown by the darkest shade of blue. It is based on 3468 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 most common wind at Whiritoa blows from the NE. If the rose diagram shows a close to circular outline, it means there is no strong bias in wind direction at Whiritoa. By contrast, dominant spokes show favoured directions, and the more dark blue, the stronger the wind. Spokes point in the direction the wind blows from. During a typical October, the model suggests that winds are light enough for the sea to be glassy (light blue) about 7% of the time (2 days each October) and blows offshore 44% of the time (2 days in an average October). Over an average October wind stronger than >40kph (25mph) was expected for only a single days at Whiritoa

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