swell city vs. sand bar

Justsmile · Since 20 Jul 2009 1530 Posts Not Portland XTreme Poster

Can someone please help me understand why the wind is so different between these two spots. 17-35 at swell out of the NW and sand bar- 4-15 out of the south west. It seems as if the sand bar shut down an hour ago or so when swell cranked up a level. What caused this major difference when they are so close????

thanks

consumer · Since 28 Nov 2010 406 Posts banned Obsessed

i think the same thing happened last saturday? super frustrating.

Jonpnw · Wed Aug 01, 12 6:24 pm

Wells Island

Inept_Fun · Since 14 Apr 2005 1417 Posts Hood River XTreme Poster

Wind direction. The wind turned very southerly at about 2 o clock today. Sandbar is total crap when the wind turns south but upwind of wells stays good.

flipper · Since 17 Oct 2011 320 Posts Obsessed

I'm probably wrong, but I think of the wind as a river on top of the river. I think the wind-river is tighter between the cliffs at swell, so everything speeds up. The air flow hits the Hood River delta, spreads out and gets slower and fluky, just like a water-river. Then throw in Wells Island, like Jonpnw said, and that just screws up everything even more, especially on a southy.

Justsmile · Since 20 Jul 2009 1530 Posts Not Portland XTreme Poster

all sounds totally legit but it looked as if swell city kept a pretty westerly wind. the sand bar definitely showed a southerly direction. Does wells island affect the wind gauge to the point it shows lighter wind when it is really stronger. I recall a couple days last year where it was nukin a little southerly but the wind gauge did not show the same speed as on the water. thanks to all for the input!!! blake

Inept_Fun · Since 14 Apr 2005 1417 Posts Hood River XTreme Poster

no it shut down completely nothing to do with wells, has to be some sort of weird weather or something. never seen it be windy so south, was flying a kite and wind was literally straight off shore.

MarkWorth · Since 02 May 2011 149 Posts Hood River Stoked

Swell city has a clean fetch from the west-southwest.

As the wind rounds wells island it tries to follow the curve and accelerates. Often there is a band of strong wind from the venture created by the island in a true westerly just off the bottom corner of the island.

When the wind cannot hold the curve because it's too much out of the south the island stalls the wind and we get stripes of glassy water. This turbulence can screw up the wind all the way to the marina as the trees and buildings on the water front get into the act.

Yesterday a Monster north south gradient kicked in midday.

http://www.gorgekiteboardschool.com/cgi-shl/10-gorge-gradients.pl

Jonpnw · Thu Aug 02, 12 8:13 am

@MarkWorth

Thank you for sharing your knowledge on this forum. I enjoy reading your post's, you explain things very well. Are you an instructor or something Very Happy

kitezilla · Since 22 Jun 2006 453 Posts gorge Obsessed

Mark,

Thanks for that observation and hypothesis. Nobody has spent more time as a kiter, looking at that section of the river, than you.

Yesterday showed a gradient of 18 from PDX to The Dalles on the iWindsurf data... the strongest one I have seen this summer.

One thing that occurs commonly with surface wind, usually in the morning, relates to the denser night air clinging to the ground. As the day heats up, a type of vertical mixing occurs and then, the people on the ground feel the wind, as it swoops down, and stays down there until late afternoon... like La Ventana. It turns out that the wind stream has been blowing all the time, but, UP HIGH. Yesterday, it seemed like this phenomenon, but in reverse, where the wind seemed to LIFT UP as the day heated up. What could have driven the wind stream back up?

I wish that I could have stopped my car on the Hood River Bridge, as I crossed, and saw the flat water at the Event center. I wonder if the wind was blowing 25MPH up there at the height of the bridge? I would like to have stopped and opened up both windows, to see if there was wind up there... didn't though... safety first!

BeerKite · Since 29 Mar 2011 471 Posts Obsessed

It just does. The wind gauge is always about 5-10mph more than it says when coming west or northwest.

Justsmile · Since 20 Jul 2009 1530 Posts Not Portland XTreme Poster

Mark and others- thanks so much for the explaining. i appreciate all your experience and time trying to explain this to all, Happy Safe Kiting Blake

Weaz · Since 23 May 2012 360 Posts Beaverton Obsessed

Yah wind is a tricky thing. Just heading to or from Portland to the Hood, you see stretches of glass then nothing but white caps, back to glass.... that and there are so many micro climates here in the Pacific NW... Jones is a prime example... sunny on the beach and thunderstorms rolling right around it (both sides)... a distance as little as 1 mile can make a big impact here... not to mention fluky wind spots when wind changes direction...

Lurk · Since 04 Apr 2009 355 Posts Obsessed

OT when is the HR bridge going to be replaced? Its old, narrow, can't last forever.

bwd · Since 04 Aug 2007 385 Posts Obsessed

when they need to raise the toll Twisted Evil

again

guest · Guest

R.I.P. The epic swell at the white salmon bridge.

http://www.nwkite.com/forums/post-143919.html#143919

unbob · Since 31 Aug 2008 260 Posts 'da Gorge/LaV Obsessed