During a short outdoor navigation course yesterday, nature once again enjoyed mocking me a little.
While discussing methods of using the wind to navigate, I had explained how wind direction is surprisingly constant over a period of hours and although small shifts are common, large changes are much less so, and complete reversals very rare. The key is understanding that a significant change in wind direction will be caused by a change in the relationship between your location and a nearby weather system, ie. a front moving through. The change in weather is usually gradual enough to foretell of wind shifts, but not always…
Yesterday we witnessed a complete flip, the wind direction shifted almost 180 degrees from south-southwest to north in one hour. This was something that I had just proclaimed to be almost unheard of, unless there was a complete change in weather. The weather had not yet…
