I’ve looked at all of the google alternatives that I can think of, to see if I can find a site that tracks historical wind velocity and direction for the place I call home. I’m not having much luck. I tried the airport, and although the people there seemed genuinely interested, they’re focused on what the wind is doing now and for the next day. People tasked with landing airplanes don’t give much of a fuck about wind velocity from ten years ago.
I finally gave up and submitted a request to environment Canada’s weather division. Hopefully they can point me in the right direction.
I was under the general impression that each summer for the last few years has been getting progressively windier. I was also under the impression that the summer winds in my area have been predominantly from the southwest but have now shifted somewhat and we’re seeing more wind from the northwest.
The problem with impressions is that they’re not data. They’re subjective to how much the wind effects your everyday life, and as a result are prejudiced. I golf and I like to frequent our large lake, so, I’m looking for relative calm. A thirty kilometer wind means rolling waves in open water and maybe a two club difference on the tee box. But, the other day I was talking with this guy and he was bitching about wrist problems from kite surfing. I waited patiently for him to describe his ailment, but only because I saw an opportunity to get his perspective on the wind. So after the compulsory words of sympathy for his wrist pain, I asked him for his impression of wind velocity over the last couple of years.
He felt that it wasn’t windy enough.
So, now I have a dilemma. Do I apply the logic of politics in 2019 and dismiss his opinion as prejudiced, while ignoring the slant of my perspective? Do I conjure up a reason for finding wind surfers elitist and disregard his opinion because he’s different from me?
I prefer facts and so I’ll wait for a reply from environment Canada.
Then if I don’t like the data they provide, I can dismiss that data as a liberal climate change hoax, perpetuated by Justin Trudeau and the Chinese to fuck Alberta over.
While I was waiting for environment Canada I thought I might educate myself regarding the jet stream. There are two jet streams. One tropical and one polar. The polar operates at about sixty degree’s latitude in both hemispheres and the tropical at about thirty degrees. Both of them blow from west to east and range from 130 to 225 kilometers an hour. They’ve been known to lose their shit every now and then and move at speeds of 450 kilometers, but that’s unusual.
Jet streams are created in the spot where cold and warm air meet. Because the polar regions are warming quicker than the rest of the planet the difference between cold and warm air is decreasing and so the jet streams are slowing.
Assuming that you believe the polar regions are warming, then what does a slowing jet stream mean? My initial thought would be that if it’s less windy in the tropopause then it should be less windy in the atmosphere.
But, more reading tells me that I’m wrong. Apparently the atmosphere is its own weather generating engine, and the job of the jet stream is to break up weather and move the various atmospheric conditions around the planet. Slowing jet streams then means that a particular weather condition will be stalled over one area for a prolonged period. Which is fine if you’re on holiday and the stuck weather is thirty degree’s and sunny. Not so much if a hurricane is sitting on Jacksonville and won’t fuck off into the Atlantic or the Carolina’s like it’s supposed to.
So, jet stream activity isn’t necessarily responsible for the wind on the surface of the planet.
So, I’m back to waiting on Environment Canada to provide a site with historical data. I’m actually surprised that the information isn’t readily available. I was certain that someone, somewhere had made a notation of wind speed and direction on a daily basis and that I could find a trend summary without having to even look at daily statistics.
Evidently not.
Maybe the polar vortex can provide some answers.