Catlins River Mouth Wind Stats

This picture illustrates how often 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 suggests the strength, with the strongest winds shown by deep blue. It is based on 3406 NWW3 forecasts of wind since since 2007, at 3hr intervals, for the closest NWW3 model node to Catlins River Mouth, located 21 km away (13 miles). There are insufficient recording stations world wide to use actual wind data. Invevitably some coastal places have very localized wind effects that would not be predicted by NWW3. According to the model, the prevailing wind at Catlins River Mouth blows from the SSE. If the rose diagram shows a close to circular outline, it means there is no strong bias in wind direction at Catlins River Mouth. 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 May, the model suggests that winds are light enough for the sea to be glassy (pale blue) about 7% of the time (2 days each May) and blows offshore 41% of the time (9 days in an average May). Over an average May winds stronger than >40kph (25mph) are expected on 4 days at Catlins River Mouth

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