Winds in San Diego (Santa Ana: live, beach, land)

[kallmandavis]

Hello,

Continuing our research into upcoming move...

I see that the weather forecast calls for a stormy day today. Among other things, it's calling for significantly more wind in inland North County (one area we're considering - PQ, 4S, Del Sur, and such) than in near-coastal communities like UC and Clairemont (other areas we're considering). Is this a typical pattern? Is inland North County windier in general?

This isn't an idle question - my wife's migraines are the main motivation for this move, and her sensitivity to wind (even when she's not out in it) is a part of that. So any insights on this important detail would be most appreciated.

KD

[oddstray]

Which weather forecast are you looking at? Keep in mind that San Diego has four climate zones, and what happens in one zone doesn't necessarily match what happens elsewhere.

NOAA doesn't forecast that or say anything about wind for San Diego coastal or north county inland. Mountain forecast is "breezy, with gusts as high as 35. In the desert, winds could gust as high as 25. Only around Potrero is there mention of any serious wind. Potrero is about an hour's drive east of San Diego. In general, the east county (Potrero and thereabouts) are the ones that get the most extreme winds, when there is wind.

[sdurbanite]

I don't find SD to be a particularly windy place. As oddstray mentioned, during a wind event, the inland areas usually get it worse.

And if the forecast you saw said it was suppose to be stormy today, then they were wrong. It is beautiful right now

Wind- Average Wind Speed- (MPH)

[kallmandavis]

Thanks for the responses. I know I'm verging on researching this thing to death, and the bottom line is pretty clear: calm throughout the county most of the time. Wind events affect different areas differently, but the bottom line is they're rare everywhere. That's why we're coming back to my old stomping grounds. Looking forward to the long-awaited house-hunting trip next week.

[tonyinsd]

My response?

What wind?

I bought some wind chimes because I thought they'd be a nice touch for my balcony garden.

I've had them for a week. I've never heard them chime at night, and I only hear them during the late morning to early afternoon.

I realize that the sample size is small but that should tell you something.

[loveautumn]

I really don't consider SD a windy place at all. We get a few rain storms with gusty winds once in a great while. Course we do get Santa Ana winds, esp in fall, which are winds that blow from east from from desert to west...and are very dry and can be windy, but nothing really serious.

[lrmsd]

SD is not windy. Today is windier than usual, and I had to pull up my patio blinds so they would not swing so much. and, I'm wearing a sweater b/c the wind makes the air cooler. That's the whopping extent of it!
I've lived in CO-now that is wind!!!! And also lived in Montana. whew.
I'm quite sensitive to wind, actually, and SD is not what I would consider a windy place.

In addition to the odd windy day like today, a few times a year, the 'santa anas' blow through, and the air is noticeably drier, windier and warmer, for a couple of days max, each time.

[kettlepot]

If your goal is to minimize wind effects, and I think you would be foolish to make that the sole determining factor, you should avoid the beach communities which get a lot of on-shore and off-shore breezes as the land heats up and cools down. You should also avoid the inland mountains and valleys where during Santa Ana events the winds are compressed into the valleys and they speed and heat up. Your happiest medium would be around the 805 at its most inland point and draw a line North-South from there.

[momtaxi]

My friend lives on the edge of a canyon and gets more wind than me too, so it also depends on where you are in the neighbourhood.