Blog: Yesterdays strong UP AND DOWN winds

[windfind]

Hi Gang,

Here is some imagery that shows the often crazy strong winds at select sites yesterday.

The first image has an over-all map showing, in red, the gusts on the ridges over the greater Bay Area and Central Valley. Then upper right image shows the powerful winds inbound over Bodega. Note the often extremely UP AND DOWN winds on the wind graphs around the Bay.

The second image shows an animation of the modeled winds at the surface. Note how the surface winds are strongly NW over the ocean. Also note how the curve in towards the low pressure in the Great Basin. But also notice how much stronger the winds are aloft in the 2nd part of the animation.

When this wind aloft hits the coast range it becomes turbulent and randomly transfers momentum to the surface. This makes for very up and down winds and even significant wind shifts. That is why I had the warnings about using caution launching kites near rocks.

Mike Godsey
iwindsurf.com/ikitesurf.com
Weatheflow.com