FKA Kiteboarding Forums

Quote:

Originally Posted by tiger20

How do you tell if it's going to be windy when you drive out to your spot?

well, how do you guys do it?

Weather forecasting is not fool proof and internet stats tend to skew info, what do you rely on?

Any tips / tricks for predicting the conditions? Or is it just experience riding alot in the same locations?

1. The quality of forecasts very from site to site and between areas. For example, http://www.srh.noaa.gov/mfl/marine.php does a pretty good job predicting for parts of SE Florida. I understand it isn't that accurate in other areas. You need to look over what is available for your area, talk to other guys and compare forecasts to actual conditions over time.

2. Launch area info is valuable. Having someone to call close to or at the launch can put the uncertainty largely to rest.

3. If you don't have this, live cams and realtime wind reports for the area, supplemented by experience, can give good insight into conditions.

4. Knowing what sort of conditions turn on the wind in your area, that may not be focused on in the forecasts, e.g. typical thermal wind conditions, timing the arrival of useable winds AFTER the leading edge squall line on some cold fronts, etc.. Comparing what your guess was against actual conditions over time can be very instructive.

5. Something that we are trying in Florida is "HOWZAWIND???" This is a way guys in the know about rideable conditions or not, can spread the word on via the Internet for specific areas.

In time, with monitoring indicators, forecasts, forming a network for local wx info things should begin to fall into place.

Good winds!

From: http://www.kiteforum.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?p=335010