El Nino

Up to now, this has been a pretty mediocre year for Texas wind. Don't get me wrong, there have been some great days but they have been mixed in with uncharacteristically long spells of no wind. Two of our best months, May and November, were practically windless.

The culprit could be El Nino conditions which we are currently experiencing. El Nino is supposed to bring increased rainfall to Texas which would reduce the thermal bump we get during SE winds. La Nina does the opposite. So, to see if this was the case I had a look at the history of El Nino and La Nina conditions and compared them with my recent Texas windsurfing history. I don't have statistics but my recollection goes like this:

• 2003 was light - worst year since I took up windsurfing
• 2006 was a stand out year
• 2010 was apparently awesome but not at the weekends...
• 2012 lots of windless spells

For the theory to hold up. 2003 and 2012 should have El Nino conditions whilst 2006 and 2010 should be La Nina. Here is the history of El Nino and La Nina conditions.

There does seem to be a bit of correlation between good Texas wind and La Nina, but really 2008 and 2011 should have been super duper awesome which I don't recall happening, but maybe that's because I'm just a weekender. 

I had this vision that I could find different spots that go off in either El Nino or La Nina conditions and plan windsurfing staycations and vacations accordingly but it looks like a red herring. If anyone reading this has some insight or solid data on this, I would love to hear from you!