Arrifana Wind Stats

This picture shows how commonly and how strongly the wind blows from different directions over a normal April. The longest 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 3360 NWW3 forecasts of wind since since 2007, at 3hr intervals, for the closest NWW3 model node to Arrifana, located 26 km away (16 miles). There are insufficient 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 Arrifana blows from the WNW. If the rose diagram shows a close to circular outline, it means there is no strong bias in wind direction at Arrifana. 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 April, 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 April) and blows offshore 38% of the time (8 days in an average April). Over an average April wind stronger than >40kph (25mph) was expected for only a single days at Arrifana

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