Advice for Newbies about the Weather.

[zerodish]

I was in Chatanooga and I wanted to go to Atlanta 120 miles to buy a camera. I was setting in the Mcdonalds and the weather report said low of 30 high of 50. That is colder than I like to travel but it also said 35mph tail winds. I could have coasted to Atlanta. So I took off and the wind changed direction hitting me from the side. Now I could have mixed up from the north with to the north but not 90 degrees. Also the temperature never rose above 30. I stopped at 5 Mcdonalds and 3 libraries. I could see the wind direction but the weather reports said wind from the north. What happened? The route is through the mountains. The wind was bouncing off the mountains and the weather vanes were located in places that didn't reflect this. There have been other incidents. In Fort Collins the temperature dropped 20 degrees below the weather report with heavy snow. All the businesses closed. In Mobile the wind turned over a train car also not predicted by the weather report. 

[Westinghouse]

Any weather system set up like that in the mountains would be of limited use. Better some use than none at all. When bicycling through Western Europe, I went over roads that were very serpentine. You could have a following win for a while, and later a quarter wind, and later side wind and headwind. It was caused by the twisting and turning of the road. The wind kept blowing in the same direction.

You can catch really good following winds bicycling east from California.