The Wind Analysis Panel sits within the main application window and controls the display and analysis of wind data. You can open and/or close this panel by clicking in its title area. If you click on the status icon on the right-hand side, the panel will open/close without affecting any of the other panels around it.
Wind data is relatively difficult to display and analyse in detail. This is because both its direction and speed change frequently, so any graphical display must also have a time or frequency dimension. Unfortunately, the most available form of wind data from any meteorological station is simply statistical tables - which are very laborious to analyse and understand. However, most stations also keep hourly records of speed and direction. Whilst such long lists of meaningless numbers are even more difficult to understand than summary tables, they are perfect for computer-based analysis. The Weather Tool provides a unique system for displaying and analysing hourly wind data.
Graphical Display
This system involves analysing wind data into 16 different directions, each centred on a multiple of 22.5° (360/16). The speed of the wind can then be represented as a distance from the centre of a polar chart. This is done in 10 concentric rings for winds up to 50km/h. This gives a grid onto which various properties of the wind each hour can be plotted using a colour scale to indicate relative frequency. The benefit of this system is that average temperature, humidity and rainfall can be displayed as well as wind frequency. The charts can also be generated for any range of dates and times, making it possible to compare summer afternoons with winter mornings, etc.
Panel Controls
The following is a description of the items available in this control panel.
Weather Parameter
Use this selector to choose the weather parameter to be overlaid on the wind chart. By default this is set to the frequency of wind speed and direstion. However, you can also overlay temperature to get a better feel for the prevailing directionality of the hottest and coldest breezes, for example.
Date/Time
Choose the date and time range for which data will be displayed on the graph. This is particularly useful for analysing summer afternoons or early winter mornings, etc.
Show Percentage
Displays the percentage of time over the selected date/time range that winds came from each direction and speed. These are displayed as percentage values within each chart block.
Show Legend
Toggles the display of the colour legend to the right of the chart.
Show Comparison
When pressed, displays four charts simultaneously showing wind frequency, average temperature, relative humidity and average rainfall for direct visual comparison.
Show Months
Displays 12 charts representing the selected weather parameter for each month of the year.