South Stradbroke Wind Stats

The graph shows how frequently 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 indicates the strength, with the darkest shade of blue strongest. It is based on 3422 NWW3 forecasts of wind since since 2007, at 3hr intervals, for the closest NWW3 model node to South Stradbroke, located 11 km away (7 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 prevailing wind at South Stradbroke blows from the ESE. If the rose plot shows a nearly round shape, it means there is no strong bias in wind direction at South Stradbroke. On the other hand, dominant spokes represent favoured directions, and the more the darkest shade of 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 14% of the time (4 days each May) and blows offshore 32% of the time (9 days in an average May). Over an average May winds exceeding >40kph (25mph) are not expected, but 3 have winds on the range 30-40 (19-25) at South Stradbroke

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