Are Easterly winds becoming more common?

[Hoytvectrix]

For the last three years or so, we have been noticing more East winds at various times throughout the year. What got us thinking about this is that we have been looking at weather forecasts during the hunting season and have been seeing several days in a row with east winds. Nearly all of our stands have been set up for what we consider to be the dominant wind for northern MO - anything with west in it (SW, W, NW) and sometimes a straight northerly wind. We also tend to set our tree tube stakes up on the dominant wind side, and it has been obvious that that is not always the best strategy. As a result, I have been digging into whether or not wind direction has been shifting over time. So far, I have struck out for finding anything indicating actual patterns. One thing that seems to be a pattern, is overall increased wind speed. You can choose just about any month in the last three years and it works out to be higher speeds than the average of the last 30 years. This might be a short-term shift, but I thought it was worth mentioning. Like I said though, wind direction has been fairly typical. I've been looking through historical wind rose data and there are not a lot of trends that jump out. It does seem like Easterly winds are picking up more in the spring, but that is about it.

Has anyone else noticed this? I feel like it may just be some bias on our part, but we are definitely looking at including another stand location on what we consider the non-dominant wind side of hunting locations.

 

[Turkey Creek]

I just researched last years wind history for my location. Easterly winds were far more common than I would like. Westerly not nearly as often as I would have thought, which is also a bummer.

 

[Bowsnbucks]

Here in Pa. - not where you mid-west guys are from for sure(!) - but we have more east winds here too. Most of our winds used to be from some westerly direction - like Hoytvectrix said. Used to be we usually only got east winds when rain or snow was coming - not so anymore. Winds are definitely stronger here too - much more than past times.

I planted certain apple trees at camp based on the usual westerly winds for hunting purposes. Those same spots are a coin flip most days now. Figures.

 

[Hoytvectrix]

I just researched last years wind history for my location. Easterly winds were far more common than I would like. Westerly not nearly as often as I would have thought, which is also a bummer.

If nothing else, this exercise has made me feel like planning for some kind of an east wind shouldn't be overlooked.

I have listened to a few different podcasts where some public land guys say their favorite wind is an east wind because it is non-tyoical and throws mature bucks off for how they would approach an area. I have no idea if there is any truth to that, but it is worth considering.

 

[hillrunner]

My favorite hunting wind is east/NE . It allows me to hunt a couple areas that I rarely get to hunt. I've had some great luck with east wind.
My least favorite is south east, usually means warmer weather.

 

[Bill]

My favorite hunting wind is east/NE . It allows me to hunt a couple areas that I rarely get to hunt. I've had some great luck with east wind.
My least favorite is south east, usually means warmer weather.

I've had a go to SE wind spot for about 15 years. Some years I can use it a lot. Others not so much. But I do remember a January I got to use it several days in a row. I was digging the warmer 20% SE wind. Beat the heck out of the 5%'s it was a few days before.

 

[FarmerDan]

Just about the time you think wind direction changes are a new thing they aren't. There's lots of wind data available but, like most weather data it's specific to a point location. While you may be close-by your experience may be a lot different. If you want something to pass a cold winter's night - or a month of the same here are a couple of places to dig thru:

https://www.nrcs.usda.gov/programs-...ter-supply-forecasting-program/wind-rose-data

https://www.climate.gov/maps-data/dataset/wind-roses-charts-and-tabular-data

 

[Brian662]

Interesting topic Hoyt, in my recent years of hunting I have started to notice east winds more often. I, too have heard some podcasts of hunters who have their best success on east winds. I have a few nice spots with east winds that I have put stands up to hunt and just haven't made it out there when the time was right.

I will put it to a stricter test this year, no doubt.

 

[West_Fork]

If you are not looking at wind over at least a 15 year period you are not likely to capture a complete ENSO cycle (5-9 year cycle) and it is likely to appear that things are changing. Then there are a number of other oscillations that need to be accounted for, such as the PDO, AMOC, and others. These are all going to change circulation patterns.