Explanation of Wind Animation
This animation presents a sequence of modelled winds near the earth’s surface in the Okanagan Valley, British Columbia.

It represents a full day of forecasted, hourly winds: from 4:00 pm (local time) on June 19 to 3:00 pm June 20, 2002.

The modelled winds are represented by white arrows.
Observed winds at five measurement sites are shown by the red arrows.
The length of the arrows depict the windspeed.
The direction of the arrow represents the wind direction.

The animation is superimposed on a contour map. The view area's boundaries are defined by Penticton in the south (near the bottom edge), to Vernon in the north (near the top edge). Okanagan Lake lies within the purple contour line.

The simulation was produced from a meteorological model called the Regional Atmospheric Modelling System (RAMS). It is useful for a qualitative assessment of meteorological model performance.

This animation file is from Hind-casting of High Resolution Atmospheric Fields over Complex Terrain: Model Initialization Issues.