Paea Wind Stats

The figure illustrates how frequently and how strongly the wind blows from different directions through a typical September. The biggest spokes point in the directions the wind most commonly blows from and the shade of blue indicates the strength, with the darkest shade of blue showing the strongest winds. It is based on 2880 NWW3 forecasts of wind since since 2006, at 3hr intervals, for the closest NWW3 model node to Paea, located 24 km away (15 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 Paea blows from the SSW. If the rose plot shows a nearly round shape, it means there is no strong bias in wind direction at Paea. Converseley, dominant spokes show favoured directions, and the more the darkest shade of blue, the stronger the wind. Spokes point in the direction the wind blows from. Over an average September, the model suggests that winds are light enough for the sea to be glassy (the lightest shade of blue) about 5% of the time (2 days each September) and blows offshore 43% of the time (13 days in an average September). During a typical September wind stronger than >40kph (25mph) was forecast for only a single days at Paea

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