why all the wind?

[ertauber]

I am not a meteorologist but I sure would like to know what conditions are the cause of so much wind the past two weeks. Any ideas or facts?

[silverking]

El Niño.

[lordsfisher]

Yes this wind has been frustrating. On the bright side by mid-April, the winds start calming from my experience. I'm no Al Roker (tv weather guy), but I looked it up on weatherunderground.com for the past 12 years or so. Avg. wind speed is 5 to 7 mph for March 17 to Apr. 17 period each year in St. Marks. For this year, 2007 and 2010 the average is on the high end at 7 mph. This time of year we get cold air still coming down from the north mixing with the warmer, humid air as the Gulf heats up. Makes for some fast moving fronts and wild conditions, like the the dramatic golfball and softball sized hail i witnessed in San Antonio this week! In the Bible, Jesus warns and promises that at the end of the age there will be crazy things like noticeable increases in earthquakes, disease and rough seas, Luke 21:25 “...On the earth, nations will be in anguish and perplexity at the roaring and tossing of the sea." Sounds bad for fishing. So in summary, I think this is normal, but I'm going to church just in case.

[Jhults11]

It always blows like crazy in the spring. You usually get 5 days of windy conditions and 2 days of decent conditions per week. Once late april and early may hit it usually lays down for the summer. May through September should be nice with the usual 15-20 knot SW seabreeze cranking up every day around 2pm.

[big bend gyrene]

Ditto what JHults said... with nearly 15 years fishing the region I'll just add that Murphy's Law dictates the days that are windy are Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, SATURDAY, AND SUNDAY, with the 2 day crazy calm conditions starting on Monday just as those of us who have jobs pull in to park at work.

If it's a holiday week with the holiday falling on Monday then you can expect an additional windy day to be tagged on after Sunday, with the calm two day period starting on Tuesday and it will be followed by 4 windy days, before starting the 2 calm / 5 day windy pattern again.

[zload]

Ditto what JHults said... with nearly 15 years fishing the region I'll just add that Murphy's Law dictates the days that are windy are Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, SATURDAY, AND SUNDAY, with the 2 day crazy calm conditions starting on Monday just as those of us who have jobs pull in to park at work.

If it's a holiday week with the holiday falling on Monday then you can expect an additional windy day to be tagged on after Sunday, with the calm two day period starting on Tuesday and it will be followed by 4 windy days, before starting the 2 calm / 5 day windy pattern again.

The winner

[MudDucker]

I was at Daytona Beach all weekend and this old man has NEVER seen this much sustained wind at this time of the year. There were 8 foot breakers on the beach. Usually only see those with a hurricane offshore.