OK, who haven't been there, you get the list of events planned for next year only to find out that the most important event (world championships??) is scheduled somewhere you have no idea about. In this post I will show and demonstrate how to use windguru.com archive data to generate statistical analysis of the typical weather at the event site. Bottom Line
You probably wonder how difficult this is going to be and what kind of insights am I going to get from this thing?
So here are the two simple answers (in screencasts) and if you have any problems (usually, if your event site does not exist in the windguru spot list) you will have to scroll down to find a solution. you ill have to use one of the two excel templates Analysis template with waves data Analysis template without waves data
Recent edits:
This post uses the old version of wind guru website. To reach it use this short screencast:
How do I use it?
What do I get out of it?
Quick intro to the windguru website:
Windguru is a website that facilitates easy access to numerical weather forecast. The free version delivers the GFS 27Km data, but you can always pay for the pro version and have access to many more models. It has a predefined list of spots each of them linked to graphical representation of the latest weather forecast for that spot. The interface provides several ways to select your spot, it is specifically designed for sailors and provides access to varied data such as wind speed and direction, air temperature, wave height, cloud cover and more for the next 10 days. The forecast is usually very accurate. On regions that are highly affected by land such as closed bays or lakes the forecast quality is limited. How to find the windguru spot closest to the event website:
If your event is scheduled somewhere you have no clue about you can do two things:
1. Subscribe to the windguru pro version which also allows you to add a new spot.
2. Find the windguru spot closest to your event site using the windguru spot map, and google earth as demonstrated at the following screencast.
The windguru data archive:
Windguru does not only provide forecasting, it also archives the latest forecast for a spot. I use the windguru archive as a database to generate statistics of weather patterns for an event site. It enables you to focus on season or month of interest as demonstrated in the following screencast.
