Winds in 2021 vs 2020 Data

[Chuck Smth]

I've seen some interesting musings regarding how fishing was different this year because of the wind. 

 

Being a hopeless nerd engineer I decided to investigate. I downloaded the data from NOAA buoy 45012 which is located slightly NE of Rochester pretty much in the middle of the lake.

I parsed the data to have similar sets for 2021 and 2020, from late June to the end of September. There are about 13,000 data points for each year (total about 26,000)

 

For the overall results:

 

Year       Avg Direction    Avg Speed

2020       229.3                12.9 mph

2021       192.3                10.7 mph 

 

So the data shows that 2021 was slightly less windy during the prime season and a little more southerly, SSW for 2021 vs SW for 2020.

 

Overall, I'd say the winds weren't significantly different between the two years.  The slightly more southerly winds would tend to keep the lake flatter and bring the temps up shallower which should have helped the smaller boats too. 

 

If anyone wants the data I have it in EXCEL format or text format. 

 

Chuck

 

Edited November 11, 2021 by Chuck Smth

[Chuck Smth]

Just  realized I can attach the data. Here it is if anyone else wants to play with it. 

2020 data.txt AUG2021.txt JUL2021.txt JUN2021.txt SEPT2021.txt

Edited November 11, 2021 by Chuck Smth

[ifishy]

Some additional data to consider that affects conditions. Daily temperature total rainfall and when inflow and outflow volumes and there ratio to each other also I think you have to start back in March as spring Conditions lead to the starting conditions for the June timeline.

Sent from my XT1080 using Lake Ontario United mobile app

[Yankee Troller]

I love this! This is what I wanted to see when guys were complaining about wacky winds this season.

 

That southernly direction would explain the cold water we saw on the South shore during Summer.

 

This wind data paired with the DEC's angler survey would make for a nice set of data over the years to see how wind direction effected catch rates.

[Chuck Smth]

2 hours ago, Yankee Troller said:

I love this! This is what I wanted to see when guys were complaining about wacky winds this season.

 

That southernly direction would explain the cold water we saw on the South shore during Summer.

 

This wind data paired with the DEC's angler survey would make for a nice set of data over the years to see how wind direction effected catch rates.

Yeah, right on. 

 

The buoys are a great resource to use. Maybe I'll do a video of how to access them with your phone and get pictures of the seas, wind and wave data with graphs and all kinds of useful data. 

 

The data is aligned with my journal too. We didn't have to make those long runs out to 300' like we did last year.  

 

Fishing was a lot more "old school" this year. 

[Gill-T]

Agreed, winds on the west end were on average more manageable this year. The one thing that made spring king fishing more difficult this year was the lack of the usual amount of East winds we get in April and May. East winds serve to keep the Niagara water to the west and East winds can also drive fish towards the surface where they are easier to get at.  The damn bait never left the bottom this spring. 

[schreckstoff]

Yankee, as usual, our thinking aligns. You should bring up the idea of using wind to predict variability in catchrates (daily, weekly, annual timescales) with the bios that work on that.

 

The buoy data is awesome. I wish they could go in earlier and come out later every year.

 

GillT, your observation of bait on the bottom late in spring: Temperature & wind make the most sense as a driver but also wondering what effect there might have been given over 90% were young, age-1 Alewife. 

[Yankee Troller]

4 hours ago, schreckstoff said:

Yankee, as usual, our thinking aligns. You should bring up the idea of using wind to predict variability in catchrates (daily, weekly, annual timescales) with the bios that work on that.

 

Tough to do without State of the Lake meetings....