O.k. I'm pissed. I've been checking the weather reports daily for the last three weeks and everytime we are supposed to have good wind (15-20+mph) I get out to the field and it's dead calm! I can't even get my 6.5m kite off the ground. Has this been a frustration to anyone else? Do you think it is the location that is the culprit? I need some consolation because I'm going through withdrawls here!

You know what's weird? i've had that same exact problem. The wind predictions on usairnet.com haven't been accurate these past weeks!! I mean, one day it says it's supposed be windy from morning till dusk (14mph) and that day there was nothing until about 4pm and it was a constant 35mph gusting to 50mph!! You think they coulda done a better prediction?

But hey :D This weekend they said there was going to be basically nothing on sunday but i saw some wind blowin and i got out there and it was 9mph to 14mph!!! Just goes to show ya, your eyeballs are the best sort of wind prediction you can get :P

A weatherman is the only person that can be paid for constantly doing his/her job wrong!

I learned a long time ago to not trust the weatherman when it comes to wind. Just go and see what the wind is for yourself. Take some frisbee's or boomerrange's for the "predicted" 15-25 mph wind days and your 2.0 meter for those days when it should be calm.

"The wind is a lie"

I would say the wind is the truth.

I think that wind is pretty hard to forecast. Also I think it is very "locational" and therefore hard to predict. It also comes and goes quickly. Sometimes it will be dead calm and then pick up for a few hours to 15 and then just shut off almost in an instant. What do you use for a wind forecast?

Look for as many wind meters in the area that you can find. Then try to pay attention to what they are reading vs what you are getting at your flying field. Maybe you'll be able to figure out a correlation to make your own localized predictions. See if this site has any meter that are close to you. I use this site and realized that one of their wind meters is installed AT one of my local fields.

http://www.met.utah.edu/cgi-bin/droman/trend_zip.cgi?zipcode...

Anyone catch the reference in the thread title? =) Minor portal reference, nevermind.

So I've been using this

http://localkitespots.com/vmap.aspx?site=1217366119511&z...

as my wind reference. I completely agree, you can't rely completely on forcasts but they do help give me something to look forward to. The wind here in AZ is very unreliable. You have to actually be at the spot you plan to fly at to really know how conditions are. Does anyone have a wind forcast source that they find to be exceptionally accurate?

I feel the same... it always happens when I want the wind most. Good forecast only to find out when I get there that the wind wasnt quite what it said.

There are a couple sites that I use... check out ikitesurf.com and wunderground (find the wundermap link) for up to the moment conditions at many local spots.

Alot of the websites some people have put up in other threads I find very confusing. I ain't a weather man. All i wanna know the is the wind speed and the Hourly prediction for the wind....... I use very basic...this works for me 85%-90% of the time, but maybe thats cause i am on the coast. I am not familiar at all with inland states and how the wind can be, but it's worth a try... "weather.com" and Accuweather.com

as far as current conditions go, the wind meters are almost always at the airport nearest your city. However, some places will have reporting stations elsewhere throughout the state with a phone number you can call for the current winds and other weather. check: http://www.faa.gov/AIRPORTS_AIRTRAFFIC/WEATHER/ASOS/
for a reporting station nearest you and put the phone number in your phone....whenever i see wind I can just call the number and make a decision.
Heads up, the recording will have lots of information on it, but listen up for 'wind....then it will have the direction of the wind in a 0-159 direction then at (speed)' and the speed is in knots.

edit:these are updated hourly, unless there is a very drastic change in weather. for wind I think its at least a 30degree direction change and like 8kts to update.....but i could be way off on that

hope this can help you guys out a bit

We get BS all winter long.

One of the commercial weather bureas is putting up a station on our beach at Jekyll Island and will make the data available on it's own web server. That will be sweet.

Thanks everyone for the links, and especially for the phone number. Good call adding into my phone. =) I'm glad to hear others have experienced the same frustration I am feeling (misery loves company). Let's all cross our fingers for the long weekend, at least here in the states this week is turkey day!

Keep flying...