Nebraskans know wind. The Plains region is known for the fierce spirit of its winds, from ceaseless high-plains howlers to rampaging tornadoes to dangerous snow-blown whiteouts.
Now, a new wind climatology tool available online from the High Plains Regional Climate Center provides detailed wind data for any location in Nebraska, as well as the center’s six-state region. The center, affiliated with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, is operated by the University of Nebraska–Lincoln’s School of Natural Resources.
The web application is the latest addition to the center’s wide-ranging set of online climate-data services and enables users to access monthly wind data from 1985 through 2022. The resulting information — monthly wind direction and wind gust hours depicted graphically, plus the location’s number of low- or high-wind months for each year — has practical value for firefighting, agriculture and the energy sector.
The wind data can help firefighters during fire season when they want to know which direction the wind most commonly blows over certain summer months, said Jamie Lahowetz, who manages the center’s Automated Weather Data Network, which collects and processes climate data across the six-state region. Using the wind-data tool, firefighters “can prepare themselves and keep a watchful eye on which direction they should be looking for when there’s a fire.”
Similarly, wind data is important for managing pesticide application and installing wind turbines at the most wind-productive sites.
Long-term analysis shows that a location’s wind patterns do not necessarily remain constant over time — hence the importance of the center’s new online tool.
