How do you judge wind

[Lee7588]

Feel good about yourself now? I bet it made sense in your head. However you interpreted what I said in this thread, must have really struck a cord.

lol





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When you defend what you say this often, it probably isn't everyone else.

 

[Lee7588]

My real issue is that I only have one area to shoot. Maybe two at odd times when crops are in and hunting season is out. I have to shoot on the same bearing. Same hedgerow, same field. But our winds tend to change a lot with lake and sea breezes And gusts. It would be nice to shoot out to every point of the compass and have some topography. We have humidity to spare if anyone needs some. But shooting to 1200 or 1000 in only one direction helps me reach another goal which is to be accurate enough to kill cleanly to 600-700 yards. That's all I need and a lot of stuff has to be just right for me to take those shots. But it is good to know I can if things are right. I'm pretty comfortable to 800 with the 308 if I have the range. Very much so with the 6.5-06

I have similar issues. My Georgia property, the longest shot is 500 yds in one direction. I can shoot 1000+ plus in Florida but cows seem to get in the way and it is a swamp. All we can do is practice with what we have available and get a working knowledge of the wind. We could all watch YouTube videos, but the working knowledge is invaluable

 

[orkan]

When you defend what you say this often, it probably isn't everyone else.

I'm not defending anything here. Against who!? lol What's the point? People on this site absolutely LOVE to be dead wrong about things. I've long since stopped caring about the people that get mad at me. Shallow people hurling insults at me while they claim I'm the one doing it. So desperate to get the last word in and the whole joint goes nuclear if I don't let them.



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[Turpentine21]

I have similar issues. My Georgia property, the longest shot is 500 yds in one direction. I can shoot 1000+ plus in Florida but cows seem to get in the way and it is a swamp. All we can do is practice with what we have available and get a working knowledge of the wind. We could all watch YouTube videos, but the working knowledge is invaluable

Yep yalls terrain is very similar. I tell my son all the time you can read about how to do it, but you'll never really know how to do it, until you actually do it.

 

[Oak_Leaf]

Great thread

 

[manitou]

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[manitou]

The yearly average wind in Eufaula, Alabama, barbour county.
View attachment 521755

Yearly average wind speed where I am, in northwestern South Dakota:
View attachment 521756

If you want to learn how to shoot in the wind, you go to where the wind is... and the wind isn't in Alabama.

This isn't meant to take away from what barbour creek is doing. I have no experience with any of their training program... never been there. It's just a big of perspective for those looking on. Wind reading skill requires local knowledge, at its apex. Reading wind in alabama, is not the same as reading wind in the great plains, but someone that learns to read wind in the great plains can read wind anywhere on the planet.

Reading wind in a 20mph condition, is not the same as reading it in a 30mph ripping condition that shows you a valley of 15mph and a peak of 38mph. Even a ripping wind at 20mph with a 12mph peak to valley delta will humble the saltiest shooter from the southeastern USA. (calm place) They just aren't used to the wide open spaces and lack of trees. (or any meaningful structure)

Here, it breaks 30mph so frequently, we don't even say it's windy unless it's pushing 35mph+. It breaks 50mph nearly every month at most stations here locally, and 60mph is not entirely uncommon. We have storms that produce straight line winds in excess of 70mph that last for hours on end. The peak straight line sustained wind force sets records for the nation during big storms.

There is NO reading mirage out here in the wide open spaces with a spotting scope (any spotting scope) on an overcast day, in any real wind. (5-10mph is not a real wind) It's absolutely not happening. Even beneath 10mph on a true overcast day, there simply isn't enough humidity or thermal variation in the monotone cold central/western north to even dream of being able to see it. Often times, the humidity so low, and the ground moisture so low, that even with direct sunlight it can be difficult to see the mirage up here due to the lack of any meaningful structure (trees,etc) to contrast the monotone brown everything stretching on without end.

Overcast? Forget about it. No way are you reading mirage under any circumstance with any optic... and I have every expensive toy imaginable for doing so. A fleet of swaro bino's and spotters, $25k vectronix LRF's, 35x Tangent Thetas, etc. On those days, none of the optics will pick up mirage under any circumstances.

Again, to be very clear and emphasize this... I'm not taking anything away from barbour creek. I bet every single shooter would learn something if they went and took a course there. (and folks should go get training somewhere) They are obviously doing a lot of good for the discipline and should be encouraged to continue to do so. This is not to be combative, but just a quick reality check.

Yet that doesn't change the fact that a very windy day in alabama doesn't even start to twitch the needle here in northwest South Dakota. If you're going to shoot in alabama, go to alabama to learn to read wind. If you're going to go to the big expanses of the west to shoot, you better go there to learn to read wind.

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So how do you read wind in S.D.?
This is a biggy for me here in "Windy WY".
I try and get in position for a head wind or tail wind... or just don't take the shot when hunting.

 

[Darryle]

Y'all ever seen this

Wind Map

 

[slam2107]

Feel good about yourself now? I bet it made sense in your head. However you interpreted what I said in this thread, must have really struck a cord.

lol





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When you defend what you say this often, it probably isn't everyone else.

It seems to me that every time Orkan gets on a discussion he acts like he's is the only one that knows anything . I'm personally tired of listening to him

 

[stormc]

I've found that wind at the beginning of a projectile's path has a greater effect at long range than the same wind at the end of its path.
Let's say your target is at 1760 yards. Your bullet has a G7 BC of .442 @ 3100 fps.
You have a strong cross wind from the left for the first 400 yards. This wind has enough to energy to accelerate your bullet to 2 fps away from your line of site, to the right, in that first 400 yards. From 400 yards on the wind is dead calm, but your bullet is still on a 2 fps tangent to the right, away from your line of sight.
It's going to take it about 2.3 seconds to reach the target. Now, we can't multiply 2 fps x the full 2.3 seconds because it took the first 400 yards to accelerate your bullet to 2 fps away from your line of sight. So let's round it down to about 4 feet.

So now let's say the wind changes, and it's dead calm to 1360 yards, with that same strong cross wind from the left for the LAST 400 yards.
It's going to take your bullet about .65 seconds to travel that last 400 yards, about one quarter of a second longer than it did the first 400, so it will accelerate to more than 2 fps away from your line of sight, let's say 2.5 fps. We can't multiply 2.5 fps x the full .65 seconds (1'-71/2") because the bullet had to accelerate from dead on to 2.5 fps in 400 yards, so let's round it down to 14".
Sorry about the redneck math!

 

[P7M13]

So how do you read wind in S.D.?
This is a biggy for me here in "Windy WY".
I try and get in position for a head wind or tail wind... or just don't take the shot when hunting.

That, sir, can be a tough nut to crack.
In my few times shooting there in the Green River area, my observation of the wind was that it behaved a lot like a river, slow on the edges and much faster in the "channel", which was largely dictated by topography.
Humbling, to say the least.
I have witnessed similar in Idaho on BLM land between Pokey and the rez. At least there the sage and grasses were taller.

 

[Oak_Leaf]

I've found that wind at the beginning of a projectile's path has a greater effect at long range than the same wind at the end of its path.
Let's say your target is at 1760 yards. Your bullet has a G7 BC of .442 @ 3100 fps.
You have a strong cross wind from the left for the first 400 yards. This wind has enough to energy to accelerate your bullet to 2 fps away from your line of site, to the right, in that first 400 yards. From 400 yards on the wind is dead calm, but your bullet is still on a 2 fps tangent to the right, away from your line of sight.
It's going to take it about 2.3 seconds to reach the target. Now, we can't multiply 2 fps x the full 2.3 seconds because it took the first 400 yards to accelerate your bullet to 2 fps away from your line of sight. So let's round it down to about 4 feet.

So now let's say the wind changes, and it's dead calm to 1360 yards, with that same strong cross wind from the left for the LAST 400 yards.
It's going to take your bullet about .65 seconds to travel that last 400 yards, about one quarter of a second longer than it did the first 400, so it will accelerate to more than 2 fps away from your line of sight, let's say 2.5 fps. We can't multiply 2.5 fps x the full .65 seconds (1'-71/2") because the bullet had to accelerate from dead on to 2.5 fps in 400 yards, so let's round it down to 14".
Sorry about the redneck math!

Kestrel has a paper they wrote that did a pretty good job describing the how the wind affects the flight for each portion of the bullet flight. They broke the flight into 1/3 segments. To me, there were two main points that I remember. One, the first 2/3 of flight make up 80% of the deflection. And, two, the first 1/3 and the second third almost look the same as far as deflection. Shooting at shorter distances, i.e. 200 yd, the first 1/3 is more important than second 1/3. Shooting at 1,000, both the first 1/3 and second 1/3 are about equal in their deflection contribution. This may be part of the varying opinions - everybody's kind of right in a way.

 

[RockyRandy]

Y'all ever seen this

Wind Map

No but I like it