In 'Subterranean Homesick Blues' Bob Dylan sang, 'You don’t need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows' and today that's more true than ever. And, since sailors have an almost endless fascination with the wind, we thought you'd like to see one of the coolest wind websites we've seen. Click on the image below and you'll see the essentially real-time graphic display of current wind anywhere in the world.
This screen shot, taken January 21, 2014, shows another low passing well North of California which has been happening all winter and causing what's likely to be a dreadful drought this year. It also shows an arctic blast coming down over the Great Lakes which will make our trip to Strictly Sail Chicago tomorrow shockingly cold. (By the way, if you'll be at Strictly Sail we're giving a talk on Summer Sailstice on Friday, 1/24 at 3:30 in Rm 309.) But the Earth Wind chart is fabulous to watch over several days watching global wind patterns evolve and geting a sense of how its worked over the eons. The website describes it's view as, 'a visualization of global weather conditions forecast by supercomputers updated every three hours.'
Check out the Atlantic right now to:
You can see the wind patterns that helped Columbus discover America, made the trade routes from Europe and return and that blows the modern day ARC rally cross the Atlantic. It's live-action representation changes daily and gives you a great feel for the global wind patterns that have shaped sailing and humanity's history.
Have you been following the Clipper Round the World Race? Got a friend sailing on it? You can see their chart of boats and where they are now here:
You can see they're beating their way West over Papua New Guinea. But take a look at the Earth Wind map to get a feel for their current wind situation and what's in store:
It's breeze on the nose a lot of the way towards their destination in Singapore. Imagine if Columbus, Magellan or Captain Cook had this to look at before they set out on their voyages. Imagine how the Polynesians traversed and settled the whole South Pacific in their lightweight multihulls traversing thousands of miles without anything but the stars, birds, clouds and other subtle signs of nature helping guide them.
If you're 'the boss' you may not want to show this to your sailing employees as it's definitely a productivity killer. It's so mesmerizing you could find yourself staring at it for three hours just waiting for the next update.
So, now that we have this, we'll not only know the wind we're sailing in on June 21, 2014 but we'll know the wind as it looks for all sailors around the world for the next Summer Sailstice. And, though this looks incredibly accurate, it probably doesn't hurt to look up from your nav station and stick a finger in the wind just to double check your local conditions.
As always, Bob Dylan was way ahead of his time when he sang Subterranean Homesick Blues. What cool new thing will the web offer us next? 'The answer my friend is blowin in the wind...' (Thanks again to Bob D.)
