Weather charts, who can read em?

[Flex]

Looking at the charts atm for along Rockhampton area and one would think rather mildish conditions say 10-15knots along central QLD coast for the next 2 days and slowly increasing. Now obviously im a total novice as I cannot see how BOM has predicted winds so high. Unless im reading these maps totally wrong

EG- Bom has 15-20 knots for central QLD coast (Thursday)

Yet Rundle island got to 7 knots and Heron got to 3 knots? Hammo Island 11knots whats the go with that?

Having said that, I live in Emerald and today it was blowing 20knots easy early but BOM's recording has it at 8 knots max... So unsure how accurate they are

Im no expert in reading synoptic charts(obviously) but how does BOM predict these things? anyone know exactly?
Or is it all computer modeling?

[tunaticer]

http://www.eldersweather.com.au/qld/capricornia/yeppoon

It should be steady even winds for the whole long weekend. 10-15 roughly so not too bad.

All will depend on the onshore breezes reacting with the moisture laden front coming through tomorrow, if the front keeps moving clear of the coast it will be steady weather.

[Sheik]

Hey Flex
WInds depend on how much of a difference there is between the high and the low in isobars, and how close geagraphically they are. You also need to remember that wind travels clockwise around a low and anti clock around a high. BOM make it easy by putting isobars between the highs and lows. When those isobars are close together, that means the winds will be strong (because there's a big pressure difference over a short distance the lines will be closer together). This can be complicated by things like onshore and offshore breezes, which are generated in a local area as either the land cools or the sea warms, causing wind to rush in as warm air rises. Troughs are basically vertical movement of the air, but you won't get rain from a trough unless there is moist air to begin with.

In the summer highs tend to be centred in the Tasman, which means northerlies coming off the coral sea bring moist air down. Troughs embedded in the back end of high pressure systems then cause that wet air to move upwards suddenly, which leads to the rain and storms we see in spring and summer.

In winter, the highs move more northerly, and are often centred around our part of the world. When that happens, the winds tend to come from the south more often and so are cold (coming up from Antarctica). Also when these highs are centred over us, the isobars are very far apart and so in winter we tend to get calmer weather, with less wind.

Hope that helps a little.

Regards Jim