WIND: Ellensburg's four-letter word

KITTITAS COUNTY—If it seems like it has been even windier than normal in Ellensburg lately, it has.

May had more instances of winds 40 mph or greater than any month since January 1999, said National Weather Service meteorologist Jon Mittelstadt.

"I searched for wind gusts at the top of the hour - when each observation was taken - greater than 40 mph," Mittelstadt wrote in an e-mail.

In May of this year, a wind-speed of 40 mph was recorded at Bowers Field 44 times. The next windiest months were August 2009 (35), March 2009 (28), June 1999 (23).

"This measure (gusts greater than 40 mph) gives an idea of which months have more windy periods due to the mountain gap winds," he wrote.

According to Mittelstadt's research, June and July, with 12 instances apiece in an average month, were the windiest months between January 1999 and May 2010. May, with an average of nine instances, and March and April (six each) were the next windiest. The data is based on a search Mittelstadt performed of wind-speed readings at Bowers Field north of Ellensburg since January 1999.

Windiest in the state?

Data collected by the Western Regional Climate Center (www.wrcc.dri.edu), backs up Mittelstadt's findings about June and July, not just in Ellensburg, but statewide.

According to the WRCC, from 1998-2006, the highest average wind speed at 15.4 mph was recorded in July in Ellensburg, followed by June (15.0), August (13.5), May (12.9) and April (11.4). Those recordings also are the highest average wind speed for any months at any of the 38 Washington airports listed by WRCC during a similar time period.

The year-long wind speed average at Bowers Field for that time was 9.5 mph - the highest in Washington. Next up were Spokane (9.4) and Hoquiam (9.3).

70 mph

This data does not, however, indicate the fastest the wind has ever blown.

"This is not a measure of the strongest winds as there have been strong, damaging wind storms at various times over the years," wrote Mittelstadt.

Mittelstadt said such data is difficult to find, but a gust of 70 mph during a thunderstorm May 12, 1998, was the fastest he could locate for Ellensburg.

The May 13, 1998, edition of the Daily Record reported a thunderstorm blew across the Kittitas Valley, bringing severe winds, rain and minor flooding.

Ellensburg’s four-letter word

Most people are familiar with a few, forbidden four-letter words.

In Ellensburg, one word is particularly taboo during calm weather.

“We don’t say the W-word if it’s not blowing,” said Debbie Myers, a longtime Ellensburg resident.

Myers, however, was free to use the word Thursday as she and her boss, Dianna Haberman, manager of the Hal Holmes Community Center, performed routine exterior maintenance at the Ellensburg Public Library Thursday morning.

At the time, the wind was 25 mph with gusts of 35 mph.

“It’s agitating,” said Haberman. “It makes you feel like you’re being pushed around. But without it, we’d probably have smog from the West Side.”

Myers wasn’t enthusiastic either.

“I, personally have never been a fan,” she said. “I like Ellensburg, though, and you gotta put up with something somewhere. If it wasn’t the wind here, it’d be the rain in Seattle.”

Cool weather and wind go hand in hand

May brought unseasonably cool temperatures as well as a 10-year high of instances of wind speeds greater than 40 mph. According to the National Weather Service, the average temperature in May was 53.2 degrees — 2.1 degrees cooler than normal. The average high temperature was 64.5 — 4 degrees below normal.

Meteorologist Jon Mittelstadt said the lower-than-normal temperatures go hand-in-hand with the frequent, heavy winds.

The Kittitas Valley’s trademark winds are what Mittelstadt calls mountain gap winds. Cooler, low pressure air from the West Side is blocked by the Cascade Mountains, and when the system finds a gap in the mountains, it rushes through and pushes aside the higher-pressure, warm Eastern Washington air.

Mittelstadt said the recent cool weather is “an indication that more cool air, and with it wind, is coming over the mountains.”

Daily Record outdoors columnist, meteorologist and former TV weatherman James Huckabay answers some questions about the wind:

Q: Why is it so windy in the Kittitas Valley?

A: Air moves from high pressure to low pressure. Our valley is nearly perfectly aligned between the more-dense cool air and higher pressure over the Pacific and the less-dense warm air and lower pressures over the Columbia Basin and off into the deserts of Southern Idaho. As the air is pushed off the Pacific by the westerly air flow of our latitudes, it is compressed coming over the mountains and expands as it spills down the east side. Our alignment and those warm areas off to the east and southeast are near-perfect for funneling high-speed winds.

Q: What tools or tactics go into predicting wind?

A: Primarily watching the surface pressure charts across the Northwest (looking for those highs and lows) and temperature charts (watching temperatures out over the Basin and so on).
Certain wind patterns can take a different direction because of highs and lows moving through other parts of the Northwest.

Q: At what wind speed would you recommend people stay indoors?

A: Really depends on the people and their ability to stay on their feet. I have seen some wind advisories to stay inside or protected at gusts of 35-45 mph. If the winds are expected to be over 50 mph, there will probably be an advisory. (Tropical storms become hurricanes at 74 mph).

Q: What effect does the wind have on outdoor activities (hunting, fishing, etc.)?

A: Honestly, as long as people can get out and stand up they go. Bird hunting is generally curtailed in high winds and fishermen reconsider where they want to fish during those times. Cold temperatures with the wind cause most of us to reconsider getting out.

Q: Are the wind patterns the same in the Lower County/Upper County?

A: Yes, but since there are fewer trees and a wider, open valley down here, it leads to higher winds and more steady direction. More trees and more surface friction in the Upper County tend to cause lower wind speeds and sometimes more variable directions.

Q:What effect does wind have on vegetation?

A: Look around at all the “flag” trees — bare on the northwest side and limbs on the other. The winds blow during the time the trees are putting out new growth.

Q: What, if any, effect does the wind have on home owners (landscaping issues, tree placement, etc.)?

A: Historically, farm houses had trees planted for wind breaks to protect them and gardens and so on (take a look around). People in subdivisions and town are more and more considering the use of fences, trees, other plantings, as well as the location and orientation of the house itself to make their corner of Paradise more liveable in the wind. A standard we use in micro-meteorology is: Wind speeds will be below 50 percent of the original speed at up to 12 times the shelter height. In other words, a six-foot tall fence can cut the wind at least half along 72 feet of property).