I had this problem before rad and i literally cursed this site for there wind fail predictions....
There is other websites....
www.windfinder.com/?utm_source=www.windfinder.com&utm_medium=web&utm_campaign=redirect
You will find that the wind predictions are no different than whats on this site.
I watched the sydney to hobart and one of the professionals stated

"There is no such thing as a wind prediction"

windfinder.com will give you a more in depth reading but in no means provide an accurate prediction.
Ive tried all these other sites but the prediction is never accurate!!!! I thought it was just seabreese but it predominant in all other sites aswell.

rad said...

Hi all

I'm confused by the significantly different wind speeds at the various locations - some not too far from each other. I suspect that some of the weather stations are close to shore and protected from certain wind directions. Is there a more detailed description of the locations (vulnerabilities) so I can plan with better accuracy ? I'm particularly interested in the coastline from Mandurah to Lancellin.

Cheers
Rad

Welcome to Seabreeze rad.

If the wind was the same all the way up the coast, would it suggest we only need one meter for each state?

Certainly some meters have their challenges for placement, as it is difficult to find the perfect spot which has exposure, comms, power & security, but mostly they are pretty good.

Sometimes (on the right weather pattern), the whole coast can have a consistent wind, but this summer in WA, there have been plenty of "troughy" days where the seabreeze has wandered on & offshore (sometimes tantalisingly 2kms offshore) .. and yes, each station has different weather.

So .. not necessarily that the meters are wrong .. after years of observing them, they are an excellent indication of what's going on at the coast.

To improve your forecasting, learn synoptics (easy), and a few other bits & bobs:

www.seabreeze.com.au/info/wind.asp

www.seabreeze.com.au/Articles/Miscellaneous/A-history-of-weather-discovery_1216853.aspx

When on the graphs page, click the forecast to take you through to the latest 4 day synoptic.

Hope that helps...