There’s no doubt that many of you will want to know………
Presented in a circular format, the modern wind rose shows the frequency of winds blowing from particular directions over a specified period. The length of each “spoke” around the circle is related to the frequency that the wind blows from a particular direction per unit time. Each concentric circle represents a different frequency, emanating from zero at the centre to increasing frequencies at the outer circles. A wind rose plot may contain additional information, in that each spoke is broken down into colour-coded bands that show wind speed ranges. Wind roses typically use 16 cardinal directions, such as north (N), NNE, NE, etc., although they may be subdivided into as many as 32 directions. In terms of angle measurement in degrees, North corresponds to 0°/360°, East to 90°, South to 180° and West to 270°.
Compiling a wind rose is one of the preliminary steps taken when constructing airport runways, as aircraft typically perform their best take-offs and landings pointing into the wind.
The wind rose below comes from the South African Weather Service (SAWS) who maintain a weather station at 43rd Air School near Port Alfred. This is a summary of the wind history from 2000 to 2015.
JanuaryIf you want to look at the details for each month, see below. These paint the picture of how the West wind prevails over the winter months to be followed by the East wind during the hot summer months when most of the visitors come to the coast.
Click the below toggles to expand the selection:
January
February
March
April
May
June
July
August
September
October
November
December
