![]() ![]() To compare conditions between months, I ran some weather routing for a late November and an early January departure. On the way across there will remain a small chance of south-westerly winds which decreases the further south and west you get mid-Atlantic adverse and light winds are generally linked to the tail of cold fronts splitting the Azores high or more rarely areas of low pressure. ![]() This is an indication of deeper winter depressions passing closer to, and affecting the Canary Islands. When looking at reanalysis data we see an even greater variation in the wind patterns, and this is consistent with a greater variability in the weather which we expect with climate change.Īdditionally, if the wind becomes south-westerly, the average strength tends to increase from November and December through to February. There are lots of statistics from different sources and although they roughly agree the older pilot charts and routing charts tend to indicate a higher incidence of trade winds, while winds derived from newer satellite observations show more variability. That is not a huge difference and the variability between years makes it hard to make firm predictions. Near the Canaries the wind is between south and west for around 10% of the time in December and higher at 14% in January. This is important for a pleasurable passage few people enjoy headwinds when supposedly on a downwind passage or race. ![]() However, averages do not tell us everything and we do get a number of days when the Canaries are affected by low pressure passing close to the north. The wind blows from this direction for 55-65% of the time with little variation from November to March. These are the trade winds found on the eastern side of the semi-permanent high pressure which we know as the Azores high. When departing the Canaries the prevailing wind direction is from north through to east-north-east. There is only one adjective that adequately describes our transatlantic crossing with the ARC last year and the season of… ![]()
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