Croatan Wind Stats

This picture shows how commonly and how strongly the wind blows from different directions over a normal May. The biggest spokes point in the directions the wind most commonly blows from and the shade of blue suggests the strength, with deep blue strongest. It is based on 2838 NWW3 forecasts of wind since since 2007, at 3hr intervals, for the closest NWW3 model node to Croatan, located 47 km away (29 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 most common wind at Croatan blows from the ESE. If the rose diagram shows a close to circular outline, it means there is no strong bias in wind direction at Croatan. On the other hand, dominant spokes illustrate 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 (the lightest shade of blue) about 7% of the time (2 days each May) and blows offshore 30% of the time (9 days in an average May). Over an average May wind stronger than >40kph (25mph) was predicted for only a single days at Croatan

read more