Whangamata Estuary Wind Stats

The figure describes how frequently and how strongly the wind blows from different directions over a normal April. The biggest 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 the darkest shade of blue. It is based on 3360 NWW3 forecasts of wind since since 2007, at 3hr intervals, for the closest NWW3 model node to Whangamata Estuary, located 28 km away (17 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 dominant wind at Whangamata Estuary blows from the ENE. If the rose graph shows a fairly circular pattern, it means there is no strong bias in wind direction at Whangamata Estuary. Converseley, dominant spokes show favoured directions, and the more deep 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 13% of the time (4 days each April) and blows offshore 44% of the time (3 days in an average April). Over an average April wind stronger than >40kph (25mph) was predicted for only a single days at Whangamata Estuary

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