The figure describes how commonly and how strongly the wind blows from different directions over a normal April. The biggest spokes point in the directions the wind most commonly blows from and the shade of blue implies the strength, with the darkest shade of blue showing the strongest winds. It is based on 1629 NWW3 forecasts of wind since since 2007, at 3hr intervals, for the closest NWW3 model node to Compton Bay, located 18 km away (11 miles). There are too few recording stations world wide to use actual wind data. Without question some coastal places have very localized wind effects that would not be predicted by NWW3.

According to the model, the most common wind at Compton Bay blows from the SW. If the rose plot shows a nearly round shape, it means there is no strong bias in wind direction at Compton Bay. By contrast, dominant spokes show favoured directions, and the more the darkest shade of blue, the stronger the wind. Spokes point in the direction the wind blows from. During a typical April, the model suggests that winds are light enough for the sea to be glassy (light blue) about 8% of the time (2 days each April) and blows offshore 14% of the time (1 days in an average April). Over an average April wind stronger than >40kph (25mph) was expected for only a single days at Compton Bay

IMPORTANT: Beta version feature! Swell heights are open water values from NWW3. There is no attempt to model near-shore effects. Coastal wave heights will generally be less, especially if the break does not have unobstructed exposure to the open ocean.