Utah Lake LB and Lake Shore wind meter

[Travis Cook]

Is the lake shore reading found at http://www.whitewillows.net/WeatherLink/vws.html? a decent indicator of what is going on at Lincoln beach? From Google maps it seems close, but it appears to be a bit inland and that changes the wind a lot. Thoughts? Is the Bluffdale site the best to go on when the wind is coming from the north? I wish there was a weather station closer.

Also, while I'm at it, I guess the closest reading to DC north shore is the Heber airport? The Midway or Charleston station is either down or doesn't provide wind speed/direction?

Thanks! Just getting the hang of where to go when.

[KyrkWright]

Travis,

I use that Lake Shore meter for wind readings before I head to Lincoln and find it pretty close to what we see at the beach. If anything you may be able to add a mph or 2 to it for what you see at the beach. If that meter is showing anything over 10 consistently then it's usually "rideable." Now I am not the most experienced of us kiters out there but it's the only place I have gone all year and have only been skunked once. That was because we were out there on a hope of a repeat from the night before, not because we checked the meter before going. So the Lake Shore meter has my vote for at least a close indication of what's going on down there. Others can certainly chime in with what they think.

I am not as familiar with indicators for Deer Creek.

Kyrk

[Shawn Henderson]

I too am looking to understand the Utah Lake PM blow. Hopefully someone that has lots of experiance can share their secrets. That said... What I have observed: The wind blows down from the point of the mountain. On average it lasts for about 2 hours between 4 and 9 pm. Because it is so short I like to read a meter in Saratoga Springs or the point of the mountain area to get as much of a head start as possible. I was raised boating on Utah Lake as a child and every local boater knows to avoid the rough to dangerous PM conditions. (Unless you are a windrider) But when and how much wind? Despite remarkably accurate forecasts like Craig’s and this one http://www.usairnet.com/cgi-bin/launch/code.cgi?Submit=Go&sta=KPVU&state=UTI still miss sometimes. Some days show no north potential and wham it comes through, other days it looks promising and you still get skunked. For example last Friday the forecasts said nope, but after work I saw the cottonwoods bending and thought should I hit it? I decided not to, but later the meter showed that I missed a decent session!

Someone with more experience may correct me, but I think it would be the same for Deer Creek. You want to read meters in advance of your launch to get a prediction so you don’t miss the good stuff.

Not to change the subject, but I work at the mouth of Provo Canyon and some days going to work I notice the wind is really blowing hard down the canyon. Anyone have AM Deer Creek advice too?

[Mark Johnson]

I moniter all of the Utah lake meters along with the livelakeview.com cams. If Bluffdale shows a strong North over many readings then I start looking at Lindon Provo airport. If the meters down South show to much South that is a bad thing. Also any clouds bunched up at Lincoln can slow things down. This year has been weird. I have seen good readings at Bluffdale that seem to dissapear past Lindon or Provo but then make it out to Lincoln or good readings at Bluff that dont make it out at all. Also looking at the Salt Pond link or any other links up North to see if there is anything to back up what you see at Bluffdale. Not sure if any of this helps but my 2 cts.

[Weston Youd]

I grew up in Lake Shore, and actually know the folks that have the wind meter. It's about 3/4 of a mile from the shore, more toward South Sandy Beach, but for me, it's a great indicator of the wind at Lincoln and SSB. Growing up, we camped at SSB all the time, and knew that in the evening we could expect a good kick of wind most days. We actually would try and body surf on the breakers that could bet up to 3 feet or more (This was during the drought, when there was miles of sandy beach, not like now).

Anyway, Like Kyrk said, bump up the MPH by 2 or 3 and that will be a good gauge as to the conditions on the shore. Like you, I didn't think there was any hope of riding last Fri, but went down anyway becuase the meter had 10 to 12 for more than 30 min, from the north, and saw there were no clouds over West Mountain (the mountain just west of Lincoln Beach). If that's the case, I know that there will be wind well into dusk.

Now if we could just get the reeds on the shoreline taken care of, we could have more launch areas to enjoy this fairly predictable wind riding area... Then I'd be alot better than where I am now!