Great video for understanding wind models

[ctuna]

Yeah I know how to use the 3k
But the 1k does not seem to work in the monteray bay
San Luis Area.
It worked for the Bay area.

[windfind]

Hi ctuna,

The Bay Area 1 km WF-WRF only covers the area in the map I sent above. Basically Bodega to Waddell to Sherman Island. That is the area we have always forecast for and is beyond what most consider the greater Bay Area.

The 1km model uses the larger area covered by the 3 km model as a starting point to allow for inbound wind and then is refined for topography etc to resolve more detail.

We have the capability to run our 1 km WF-WRF over a larger area and at even much higher resolution. We would love to do this and it would make our forecasting much easier. The issue is that the computer power needed and cost goes up exponentially as the coverage zone and resolution goes up.

Here is a short story that relates to why the 1 km model does not cover San Luis...

Before the 2013 America's Cup we were approached by one of the teams with very deep pockets to run our model at an amazing 250-meter resolution over the central Bay. At that resolution, you could see the wind shadows of the trees in the Presidio over the Anita Rock area, etc. That res. allows tactical decisions. That team went on to win the AC. Like I said, deep pockets.

Also, just for perspective, back in the days when we were known as Call of the Wind the best model for Bay Area forecasting was the Navy's MM5 model which at the time had an "amazing" resolution of 29 km. In those days the NWS forecast for the Bay Area in the summer was 15-25 every day. We tried to do better.

Mike Godsey
iwindsurf.com/ikitesurf.com
Weatheflow.com