Where does the wind blow?

[Hannah998877a]

East-West conversations tend to revolve around the direction of the wind. If you want too much information on this subject, take a look at .
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Does anyone know a better source?

[John Nettles]

Hannah, welcome to the ACA Forums!

I use and highly recommend WeatherSpark.com for climate information.  It covers a huge area of the world and provides detailed averages for numerous climate categories. 

I personally think the "wind direction" issue is caused because we typically try to cover too big of a geographic area, i.e. what direction does the wind come from on the TransAm route. 

Too me that is too broad an area.  For instance, from what direction does the wind blow in your back yard during the summer?  Mine is southerly.  Depending on where you live, yours may very well be different.  What about your county?  Mine is southern but a smidgen to the east.  What about your state as a whole?  Mine is from the SSW.  What about the region, depending on how you definite region?  Probably the SW.  What about the country?  It depends on the reference location.  Then you factor in are you riding in two seasons, i.e. August to October or May to July?

Regardless, WeatherSpark gives pretty good historical data for a lot of areas and provides the 30-year averages.  You can hope you get the average when on tour assuming you planned for 78* highs with tailwinds and no rain but no guarantees.

Tailwinds, John

[jamawani]

There are prevailing winds in most places.
"Prevailing" means "prevailing" not "always".
Depends on the place, depends on the season.

In summer on the Oregon coast, prevailing winds are northwesterly.
Which means it's pretty easy biking south, tough riding north.

In Glacier N.P. there are strong prevailing southwesterlies.
So strong that there are often whitecaps on St. Marys Lake in the afternoon.
Westbound riders are well-advised to start super early in the morning when winds are light.

[Iowagriz]

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[Westinghouse]

The wind blows to every direction on the compass, and from every direction on God's green earth. The one place where there is definitely a prevailing wind on which you can rely is the Pacific coast bicycle route. Sure you may get some side winds now and again. The prevailing goes from north to south and it can be a stiff prevailing wind.

[ray b]

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[Ty0604]

I use the Windy app. It’s on iOS but unsure if it’s on Android.

I studied meteorology in college and winds are complicated. Prevailing winds blow west to east across the globe due to the earths rotation but, as jamawani pointed out, this doesn’t mean always.

On all of my cross country tours I’ve only gone east to west once and the headwinds were gnarly, especially the closer to the west coast I got. They were barely noticeable during my west to east crossings except in North and South Dakota where the wind blew in every direction at any given time.

The cross winds are what scare me. While crossing a bridge in Maryland on a rather calm day a strong crosswind in excess of 40mph knocked me off of my bike and into the fence separating me from the highway. If it had come from the other direction I may have very well ended up in the bay. I walked my bike the remainder of the way across the bridge after that.

[EzRock1523]

I think Weather Spark would be good think to check out the wind flow. Also you can check accu weather.

[Westinghouse]

Just now there was a video on YouTube. It was two young men who bicycled from the coast of Florida to San Diego California. It was their first ever experience like that. They went from the East toward the west. Beginning in the panhandle of Florida on Highway 90 they had the rain and the wind in their faces head on across Florida, Alabama, Louisiana, Texas and Arizona. They hit the trail at the wrong time. They were a lot tougher at the end of the journey then they were at the beginning. Wind, rain and temperatures take on more elevated meaning when we are out there vulnerable for long periods. The wind is all over the place coming and going at every direction on the compass. Having cycled the Southern Tier of states five times from Florida to California I can tell you this. You might get quite a bit of adverse wind from the side and head on. Whether or not there is a great deal more wind coming from the side and the front then there is from the back is another matter. You just have to go out there and deal with it. I suppose you would say that is part of the activity. All kinds of extreme weather can catch you unaware in short order. I was out there outside for a long time 33,000 miles through 19 countries and most of it stealth camping. I have been caught out right in the middle of extremely deadly weather events. In my opinion, bicycle touring long distance and camping teaches a new awareness of weather conditions that we have probably lost after living in houses for so long. You regain that sense of what the weather can do to you or for you. In any other touring, I would make an explicit point of getting weather forecasts frequently. That's just me but I've been caught out in some extreme deadly lethal storms.

[Westinghouse]

I was cycling and camping from Florida to California. It was Highway 90 South of Van Horn Texas. It was a long ride. I would not say it was desolate. I started North on Highway 90 to Van Horn. When the wind blew up it came from the West to my left. Later on the wind was a quarter wind on the left front. After that it was a straight on headwind. After that it became a Northeast wind to my front quarter. Later it became an East Wind hitting me on the right. Later in the day it was a following wind and I think that was all the way to Van Horn. It went in a circle all around me throughout the day. It came from every direction and it went to every direction.

[johnsondasw]

The wind blows to every direction on the compass, and from every direction on God's green earth. The one place where there is definitely a prevailing wind on which you can rely is the Pacific coast bicycle route. Sure you may get some side winds now and again. The prevailing goes from north to south and it can be a stiff prevailing wind.

Except in the early summer of 2005 when I rode it.  The famous prevailing north winds that year came mid`July, right after we had finished.  Grrrrr

[cwskas]

Bookmarking these might be helpful.  I am in no way associated with the website, but I do keep a close eye on the weather.

https://www.usairnet.com/weather/images/wind-direction.png



https://www.usairnet.com/weather/images/wind-speed.png