IF October was the month that swept Sydneysiders off their feet, November may just blow them away.

Winds in New South Wales have set records in terms of both average speed and the number of windy days over the last two months and things aren’t ready to calm down just yet.

“October was quite a standout month, the average wind conditions being the windiest on record,” said Bureau of Meteorology senior climatologist Agata Imielska.

“Half the month’s days would be classified as windy, the third most on record.”

media_camera Leisa Ferguson from King Creek NSW hangs out her washing on a hot and windy day with her daughter Rosie. Picture: Nathan Edwards

Winds over 40km/h are categorised as a ‘windy day’.

“We’ve had 16 days with winds between 40 and 63km/h,” Ms Imielska, 30, said.

The average wind speed for October 2016 was 23.4km/hr and the average for all the months of October is 16.8km/h.

The first half of November has also been windier than normal.

“The most recent windy event was last Sunday, which was quite a windy day,” Ms Imielska said. “If you remember, the weekend started with calm and sunny then the wind really picked up. The average wind speed there was 48km/h, and right on 2.34pm at Sydney Airport there was a peak wind gust of 81km/h.”

When gusts reach 90km/h they are granted ‘damaging winds’ status.

“Spring is quite a changeable month. It tends to contrast between really hot and cold air, and these changes can really drive some of these really windy changes coming.”

“We are in bushfire season right now, so it’s really important to be mindful of these dry conditions and these windy conditions as that’s really conducive to starting bushfires — it increases that bushfire risk. It’s really important to be mindful of any fire bans,” she said.

media_camera Winds fanned raging bushfires the last few weeks. Picture: Jenny Evans

media_camera Elvis the water crane helicopter had to be called in to contain the fire at Castle Cove. Picture: Sam Ruttyn

While a blessing for kite flyers and drying washing, the blustery conditions have caused headaches across a number of areas, including making life even tougher for firefighters.

NSW Rural Fire Service Deputy Commissioner Rob Rogers said recent hot, dry and windy conditions caused more intense and unpredictable bush fires.

“Strong winds can push embers ahead, in some cases they can land many kilometres in front of the fire. This can lead to spot fires and new areas that are burning,” Mr Rogers said.

“There are other phenomena that occur like fire whirls, as a result of the atmospheric conditions created.

“Strong winds have an effect on the rate of spread of fires, with grass fires having the potential to burn at double the rate of forest fires in strong winds.”

For cherry and apple grower Guy Gaeta, the wind is also an unwelcome visitor.

“The wind has been a pain in the butt. You can’t spray the crops as it just goes everywhere,” he said.

“The fruit will start getting big and ripe in the coming weeks, and if the wind continues it will simply bruise all the produce. I’ve been doing this for 30 years, and I have never had a season that has been windy virtually every day since August.”

media_camera Leisa with her son Charlie who is enjoying the wind — others may not. Picture Nathan Edwards

On the flip side, Steve McCormack, owner of San Souci store ‘Kitepower’, is welcoming the strong winds with open arms.

“We are definitely seeing an upturn of interest, particularly in people wanting to participate in windsurfing as they have been seeing them out on the water,” he said.

“We are seeing more and more people come into the store, which we normally see as the summer period starts up. An old mate of mine in the industry used to say, when the wind blows the money flows.”

THE WINDY CITY

OCTOBER DIRECTION SPEED TIME

3Mo WSW 72 16.14

4Tu W 70 20.28

5We SW 57 02:54

8Sa SSE 54 12:00

9Su NE 52 18:30

11Tu WSW 61 00:02

13Th SSW 57 01:12

15Sa NNE 50 17:30

16Su NNE 56 14:49

19We W 50 09:58

22Sa WSW 57 17:49

23Su SSW 59 09:36

30Su NW 50 22:57

31Mo NNW 52 23:01

NOVEMBER

5Sa W 76 11:13

6Su W 57 10:19

8Tu S 54 17:43

13Su W 72 16:19

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