NOAA Wind Graph Question

[Bryan53]

The example NWS NOAA graph below shows wind speed, gusts and direction. My question regards the bars attached to each forecasted hourly wind speed data point. I know the orientation of the bar represents wind direction, but what do the single vs. double hashes at the end of each bar represent?

Also, is the bar length refer to variability? Although my example doesn't show much difference in bar length, I've noticed that it is sometimes different.

[sailingdog]

The short bar is 5 knots, the longer bar is 10 knots. See this page for a full explanation.

[Bryan53]

Thanks for the explanation and the link!

[sailingdog]

Glad to help... BTW, those are used by the pilot charts and a lot of other nautical-related documentation, so it is good to be able to read them.

[midlifesailor]

Where did you find that wind graph? I know about the barbs from my aviation background but have never seen a forecast graph like that. I looked on the NOAA site but couldn't find anything like that chart. Could you post a link?

I assume they are surface winds vs winds aloft?

[sailingdog]

You can find something quite similar over at SailFlow.com - RI- Rhode Island Wind Data

[Bryan53]

Starting here:
National Weather Service Southern Region homepage
Select your region, then the town to get the standard forecast view. Scroll down to the bottom of that page to the “Additional Forecasts and Information” section and select the “Hourly Weather Graph” link. You can then check the boxes for the desired parameters including wind to display the graph for your area.

[midlifesailor]

Gotcha'. Thanks.

There is so much info on that site that I'm constantly amazed. I probably visit NOAA at least as much as anyone here (I often use it for work) and I've never seen that product.