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Old 07-02-2010, 09:00 AM   #3
CanisLupusArctos
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The lake is a quirky place for weather, as many boaters have discovered. It's a horizontal version of the White Mountains. When I started winter climbing, I discovered that the "knee" of Lion's Head (on Mt. Washington) is sometimes windier than the summit.

For similar reasons your point on the lake has its wind. To find the real reason ( a solid conclusion) one would have to conduct a study that would involve a couple of weather buoys and temporary land-based stations, etc. It would be the kind of thing someone might do for senior research project for a bachelor's degree in meteorology.

My guess is that the dominant wind direction in this area (NW to SE) is interacting with the shape of the shoreline in a certain way. The lake is like a horizontal version of the White Mountains. When wind is forced to bend around a point of land or squeeze between islands, it speeds up. It does the same thing when it is forced to bend over a mountain peak, or squeeze between two peaks. Same concept as when you put your thumb over the end of a garden hose -- the water speeds up.

But I would guess that the wind patterns on this big lake are not that simple. The shoreline shape is not simple. If you picture air flow as an invisible stream on the lake, there are probably many eddies, whirlpools, and rapids in various places on the lake, and many of them relocate every time the wind direction changes.

At this station, the wind is almost constant and calm days are rare, even when the rest of the area is having a calm day. Go over to the other side of the island and many times there's no wind at all. Sometimes when returning home on a breezy day, I find that it becomes a mini-hurricane as I near the house.

This lake sure does have some interesting, highly-localized weather!
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