Grand Bend Weather for Parachuting & Skydiving
How often have you heard something like " this is (fill in state
or province); if you don't like the weather, wait five minutes!"
Apparently everyone likes to think that their weather is special and that it changes quickly. Well, it's true! Weather is very localized. It can be quite sunny somewhere and a short distance away it can be cloudy. It can be windy somewhere and not so windy a few minutes' drive away.
As a very wise skydiver/DZ operator once said: " If you want
to find out the weather, first you drive to the dropzone, then you look
up".
If you really don't want to "waste" a drive out to "look up" and you
don't want to pester us with a phone call, you can always check the weather
on-line. Here are a few links that may help:
Goderich is North of Grand Bend on the Lake Huron shoreline; weather conditions
are often similar due to "Lake Effect"
Port Huron is southwest from Grand Bend, at the south end of Lake Huron
London is southeast from Grand Bend. Although not far away, the weather conditions
can be quite different
Click here
for weather radar from Exeter, Ontario. Grand Bend is directly west from
Exeter, on the Lake Huron shoreline. There are many Environment Canada
weather links on this site.
Click
here for the forecasted upper winds and temperatures. Remember these
are computer projections, not actual measured conditions. The closest one
to Grand Bend is the 15th on the list, with the abbreviation "ECK".
This is in Peck, Michigan which is west of Grand Bend. To interpret these
figures, note that the columns are for 3000', 6000', 9000',etc. In each
column is a four digit number. The first two digits are the wind direction.
For example, "27" is 270 degrees, meaning a west wind at that altitude.
The next two digits are the wind strength in knots. A knot = 1.16 miles
per hour. So for example the code " 3025" would mean a northwest wind (300
degrees) at 29 mph (25 knots). Following the 4-digit code in each column
except for the 3000' one is the forecasted temperature in Celcius degrees
at that altitude.
Webcam
Although we don't yet have a webcam right here at the airport, there is a local webcam which will give
you a good idea of the weather in the Grand Bend area:
The river
and pier as seen from the Grand Bend Yacht Club. This picture does update every 30 seconds and gives you a good idea of the local weather looking west from Grand Bend toward Lake Huron.
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