I have never seen the lake like this......
 

Came up with my son yesterday to get together with a couple of high school frieds-plan was to rent the boat from Goodhue and head to Meredith. As soon as we turned the corner out of Wolfeboro Bay-WOW!!! I had never seen such big swells and boy did we get soaked just getting to Jockey Cove for safekeeping. Couldnt do much on the water after that-does anyone know how high the swells were officially and what the wind speed was? Really amazing to see the power of the lake....

We saw whitecaps in Blackey Cove yesterday morning. I never ventured out into the broads though, knew better...

Definitely need a speed limit, to make the Lake family safe - from the Wind, that is... :D :laugh: :laugh:

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories...MPLATE=DEFAULT

Bota rental?
 

Who did you rent the boat from? Did you ask about weather conditions? Wolfboro to Meredith isn't a walk in the park on a calm day! Do your homework next time! Please continue to visit the lakes region!

Ouch!
 

Do your homework next time! Please continue to visit the lakes region

What's a bota? Please do YOUR homework next time.... Spelling!

Saturday
 

I spent the morning on saturday laying and repostioning the course markers for the swim portion of the Timberman Sprint at Ellacoya State Beach. At sunrise it was fairly calm. (5.50 am)

As soon as the sun came up it started blowing from the WNW at 10-15 MPH. By the time the last swimmers were out of the water it was.. (According to the Weather Channel) WNW at 21 MPH. It's not "offical", but I would estimate the waves to be 15-20 inches at 9.00am when the last wave of swimmers came out of the water.

We planned on pulling the markers in mid afternoon, but conditions had gotten to the point that it was unsafe to even attempt it. The Sprint course is 1/3 mile.. so the markers were close to shore and not a navigation problem.

Sunday was almost dead calm for laying the 1.2 mile course for the 1/2 ironman at 5.30 am the wind was W 5-6 MPH. By the time we pulled the 10 markers at around 10 am. it had shifted back to WNW and the Broads was really chopped up with swells 1- 1&1/2 feet.

If you read the stories in todays Citizen online.. you can understand the problems the swimmers had with the lake on saturday.

http://www.citizen.com/apps/pbcs.dll...gory=citizen02

It really is an amazing event to watch.. the winning time was just over 4 hours for a 1.2 mile swim, followed by a 56 mile bike ride and just for good measure capped off by a 13.1 mile run. :eek: :eek: :eek:

Wicked!
 

The wind on Saturday was indeed incredible! White caps in Alton Bay, of all things.

We saw the Marine Patrol in our cove mid-morning. He had spotted a small sailboat that had popped its mooring in the wind and was bashing up against the rocks on shore. (Fortunately, it was the boat owners property). My brother, his son (9) and my son (11) went over to help out. The two boys jumped in the water and kept the boat from hitting the rocks and damaging it further than it already was. The Marine Patrol officer was NOT happy as the mooring, he said, wasn't legal nor was it strong enough - 1/2 a cement block and a tire.

And he had to use his own rope to tie up the boat to the dock.

Is my neighbor going to be unhappy when he gets back.

nj2nh

I woke up at 3am Sat. morning from the wind. We were staying at a house on Meredith Bay. The house faced Southeast. What a spectacular night sky. The sky was crystal clear above the property, but as you looked toward the South you could see a line of clouds that were full of frequent lightning. By 7am there were white caps on the bay. I can only guess at what the broads looked like:eek:

High waves, lots of wind, rough waters...

sounds like the making of FALL (The saddest time of the year!)

We were out at the island house when the front blew in on early Saturday morning.
I new by the sound of the wind and the size of the waves it was going to be a wild day to leave the island. It was a wet ride needless to say.

30 mph
 

At Black Cat Island the peak wind for the 18th was 30 mph from the NW (blowing from Center Harbor to Wolfeborough.)

It should also be noted that winds from the NW have to cross a portion of the island before they get to my wind sensors - out on the open lake there are no trees or rocks to slow the wind down. By the time it gets to The Broads it's a lot stronger and the waves have had several miles to build up.

All the daily weather records are auto-updated at www.blackcatnh.com/weather.

High Wind
 

Our weather station recorded a wind gust of 43 mph at 11:20 AM on Saturday. Our house gets the full blast of the NW wind coming in over the water!

While we're on the subject of winds
 

Hey CLA or Rose,
Can either of you explain what it is that seems to increase the winds as they blow over open water. I spent two weeks at my lake (Sebago) and I face west to northwest over the Main Bay which is approximately 8 miles by 5 miles wide. The forecasted winds were five to ten mph and the wind blew what seemed to be at least 20-25 mph rolling up 4 foot waves. When I check all of the automated stations in the area using the NWS site, the winds seem to be in the forcasted range. What up with that? Is there some type of phenomenon? Is it Downsloping?

Blue Thunder

Fetch
 

I'm no expert.. but this seems like this is part of the answer. (The Wave Height)

http://www4.ncsu.edu/eos/users/c/cek...r10/part2.html

Key section is:

"How big these wind waves get is dependent upon four variables:

Wind speed
Wind fetch (or the distance over which wind blows)
Wind duration (how long the wind blows)
Water depth "


I do know that when I leave Lake Shore Park on the Broads.. if the wind is from the NW.. it's going to be rough. From LSP... there is a lot of open water when looking NW..

SteveA

DRH,the only downsloping there would be would be generated from the wind coming down the mountains.There are none of these in the lake itself but you do raise a good point.It does seem to windier the further away from the lee side of the land.I think its just having an unobtructed surface to excelerate on.If you had your house above the trees you would probably have the same effect.
Now as far as the waves,we know they will get bigger the further they travel down the lake with aid of the wind.

Wind like that is just air moving from a high pressure area to a low pressure area combined with the opposite circular motion air tends to take around the low and high pressure areas. If you happen to be in the path of the spot where the two circulating air masses combine, and the pressure differential is great, the wind will be pretty strong.

I did not watch the weather on Friday or Saturday, but I bet we were caught between a high pressure area to the south west and a low pressure area to the north east on Saturday. The air around the high pressure area would rotate clockwise and the air around the low pressure area would rotate counter clockwise. Where the two combined, if they were located as I stated, would create a strong wind from the north west.

The less resistance the air encounters as it flows, the faster it will go, to a point. That's why the wind picks up over long stretches of water.

Timberman
 

I did the Sprint Tri on Saturday and I can personally attest that it made swimming very very difficult.

I was very happy to get out of the water and jump on my bike!

Thanks for volunteering SteveA.

It is an awesome event!

Smitty1

Here's the map
 

topo plays a big role
 

Local topography plays a role in strengthening the wind. In cities, that's buildings. If you walk between buildings on a windy day in downtown Boston, you'll get winds a lot stronger than what Logan Airport is having because moving air (and water) speed up when they squeeze through tight spaces, like when you put your thumb over the end of the garden hose (wouldn't it be nice if traffic did the same?)

Around here we have mountain ranges that funnel moving air. When Tropical Storm Floyd came up the coast in 1999, I was in Portsmouth where nothing much was happening and came up to the lake where hundreds of trees were falling - ended up having to spend the night elsewhere because the road was blocked by trees. Even Rt. 25 was blocked by trees at one point. Meanwhile, Portsmouth was having just a classic wind-driven rainstorm.

I seem to remember that Belknap County needed disaster aid to remove the 100's of fallen trees and restore power, while the seacoast fared much better.

Why the difference? Floyd's winds hit our local mountains at just the right angle so they got funneled, which strengthened them and focused them on a very localized area, well away from the Tropical Storm's path.

And today it is happening again... as I write this we're gusting to 18 mph on Black Cat, from the SE... meanwhile all the NWS sites (AND the Summit of Mount Washington!) are reporting generally 2-5 mph from the east or southeast. Our winds are actually a lot stronger than Mount Washington's right now.

The lake, which is elongated from NW to SE and bordered by mountains to the south and to the north, is acting like a runway and a funnel for the wind.

Your Welcome!
 

I really admire anyone that does the training to get thru an event like that. :cheers:

Keith Jordan does an amazing job on the event. (If you went to the food tent.. you met "She Who Must Be Obeyed.." ) Dianne and I volunteer every year.. I'm in the boat and she slices oranges and bagels! With more than 3800 athletes over the two days... that's alot of slicing :) :)

CLA is right on the money with topograghy funneling and accelerating wind.There is no better example than at the top of Franconia notch at Cannon MT when a large storm goes west of NH and sends a south wind up the notch.I have had a house right there for the last 20 years and it's amazing the how high the winds get out of the south by being squeezed up the notch.Almost every closure for wind at Cannon ski area is because of a south wind even though it faces north/northeast.

Wave Height
 

I traveled from Center Harbor to Wolfeboro and back last Saturday. I would say the waves were in the 2-3 foot range. Pretty rough for a small bow rider; but they were nothing compared to the 4-6 footers I experienced in August 2006.

Power of the Lake?
 

When there is serious "chop" best to localize your boating ventures depending on boat size and navigation skills. She can get like the sea at times, but anyday being on Lake Winni is a great day!
Tank

Like LI Sound
 

Had to go from W.Alton Marina out to the Broads-side of Rattlesnake on Saturday afternoon in my 20 footer; just making headway and dipped the bow more than once! Impressive waves with such short frequency; looked like Long Island (NY/CT) Sound during a fierce thunderstorm. Winni's not a place to fool around with.