How to read the Weather

Welcome to the help page for reading and understanding the Extreme Kites Weather System. This page is here to help you make sense of all the information and graphs, how to decipher them and read them easily.

Reading our live weather is easy and you get an idea of what's happening around you at a quick and easy glance.

The Live Weather Map above shows the live weather around Melbourne, Live Weather Maps like this are available for all popular locations around Australia. These Live Weather Maps are updated every 5 minutes and will refresh your page automatically so you're always viewing the latest live weather observations.

The blue area of the map is water, the dark area of the map is land.

The white arrows in the orange circle indicate the direction of the wind, next to them is the name of the Live Weather Station and the current wind strength. If you click on the arrows it will scroll you down the page where you can see a 12 hour history for that Live Weather Station.

The graph/plot above shows a 12 hour history for the weather station. If you drag your mouse over the map you can see more detailed information including the maximum gust recorder at that time. The green background represents the most recent recordings, where the graphs are updated running from right to left.

There are lots of these graphs/plots, simply click the arrows in the orange circle in the Live Weather Map and it will scroll you down and open the day's history for you.

Wind & Temperature Forecasts are shown in advance for 7 days.



The arrows indicate the direction of the wind, the top of the graph/plot being North. The higher up the arrow on the graph/plot the stronger the wind, as the wind is stronger the colour of the arrows changes. You can get more detailed information by hovering your mouse or pointer over the graph/plot and dragging it around. It will give you a knot reading, direction and at what time of the day it is expected.

Our Wind Forecasts are for 7 days, the first 5 days under the Green heading starting today and spanning 5 days. The last two days are still accurate, however may vary slightly from the forecast that is first shown as the current day comes nearer.

Tide Forecasts are shown in advance for 7 days.



The blue times indicate the high tide, the yellow times indicate low tide. By hovering your mouse over the information time you can also see the estimated tide height.

Kiting safely is only as good as the decisions we make before we go out. Using the Extreme Kites Weather Forecasts you can choose in advance the best days, and the safest days to go kiting. Generally you want to choose days with Green arrows which show adequate wind, the direction is as important as the strength. It is generally safer to kite in an onshore wind, or cross-onshore so that if you do fall in to difficulty you can be blown back in to land. Kiting in offshore winds can be very dangerous.

Tides are also important in some locations, for land kiters typically a low tide is best as the most kiteable area is exposed. For kitesurfing a high-tide increases the depth between you and the sand making it safer.

If you are ever unsure if it's the right day to kite then post in our forum and a local kiter will help you out!

Constants are values that do not change throughout our system, they are fixed values we use to either measure, zone or catagorise information.

Victoria

• VICMELB Melbourne & Geelong
• VICSTHGIPPS South Gippsland
• VICWEST South West Victoria

New South Wales

• NSWSYD Sydney
• NSWSS South Sydney
• NSWCC Central Coast
• NSWSC South Coast NSW
• NSWNC North Coast NSW

Queensland

• QLDBRIS Brisbane & Gold Coast
• QLDSE South East Queensland
• QLDCS South Central Queensland
• QLDCN North Central Queensland
• QLDNTH North Queensland
• QLDFN Far North Queensland

Northern Territory

• NTDARW Darwin
• NTNE North East Northern Territory
• NTNW North West Northern Territory

Western Australia

• WAPERT Perth
• WASWC South West Coast Western Australia
• WABRO Broome
• WANWC North West Coast Western Australia
• WACCN Central Coast North Western Australia

South Australia

• SAADEL Adelaide
• SAMN Mid North Coast South Australia
• SAWC West Coast South Australia
• SAEC East Coast South Australia

Tasmania

• TASSTH Hobart & Southern Tasmania
• TASNTH Launceston & Northern Tasmania

Australian Capital Territory

• **None Yet