1/10/11 Strawberry 15m

[fredishlarsen]

I decided to take some time today and see if Kenny's Strawberry observations, "it blows there almost every day", might pay off. I was also enticed by a Daniel's reading of 5 gusting to 10 N. Got to the lake about 1. Drove all over looking for the wind. Not much more than a breath anywhere, from the west side to the east side. I decided to go check out the marina just for fun. Drove up the snow packed road and stopped where the road turns left just to test the wind. To my surprise and excitement there was some wind. Not very strong and coming WSW. There were some clouds kind of camped on the top of the mountains along the south side of the lake. I continued down to the marina where the wind was a little stronger maybe 8 or 9. I was desperate and almost setup for some light wind reaches across the lake. After looking north west across the lake I decided that the view area might be collecting the WSW wind like it sometimes does. Got back in the car and drove quickly over to the view area. I was totally disappointed to find that there was almost no wind. So, I continued down the road to the cabin's lot in the hope of finding more west wind. It was a little stronger, maybe 3 gusting to 5, not good enough. Headed back toward the marina. Turned onto the marina road and noticed that the clouds that had been sitting on the mountains were now moving north and coming down the hills and the wind had picked up even more. I pulled into the parking lot right after the visitors center, setup and rode the first hill on the east side of the road for about two hours. The wind was light but it was better than riding a desk at work. Snow was a little crusty on top and deep and fluffy in other places. You were right Kenny, Strawberry blows.