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The Nicaragua Winds: Enhanced Trades and Papagayo
All inclusive guided kitesurf tours in Nicaragua from December through March. Awesome wind conditions, tons of great spots. All sessions professionally photographed.
The Wind in Nicaragua: Enhanced Trade Winds
The wind conditions in the lake district of Nicaragua are generally
attributable to an enhanced trade wind effect. At the earth's heat
equator,
air rises creating an area of low pressure called the Inter Tropical Convergence Zone or ITCZ for short. The
air rises up to the tropopause before diverging poleward. At
approximately 30 degrees of latitude, this poleward flow meets a
descending air-mass and is forced back down to earth creating a belt of
high
pressure.
A surface pressure gradient is setup between the two areas, with the
high pressure area being approximately 30 degrees from the equator and
the low pressure being roughly at the equator. Nature attempts to
equalize the pressure gradient with a resultant surface flow of air know
as a 'Trade Wind'. In Central
America the Trade Winds cannot flow freely because of the Central
American Cordillera
Mountain range, which creates a physical barrier between the Subtropical
high pressure and equatorial low pressure. The only points of
release for the build of pressure is at
breaks in the Cordillera
mountain range, the most significant one of which is the valley formed
by
Lake Nicaragua. As such, the low lying lake district of Nicaragua can be
likened to a pressure release valve - with an entire regions worth of
airflow being funneled through it. During the Northern
hemisphere winter, when the ITCZ is further South and the Trade
Wind's are stronger, the resultant flow of air whistles across the lake at a steady 17kts
to 25kts.
The Wind in Nicaragua: Papagayo Events
As described above, the Nicaragua lake district can be likened to the
'pressure relief valve' for the Central American Isthmus - one of few
points at which air can flow unimpeded from the subtropical high to the
equatorial low. Now imagine the scenario in the US fall,
winter & spring when a mammoth sized, frozen, super-dense, high
pressure air mass
drifts South off the Great Plains to the Gulf of Mexico and the
Caribbean. Its like a car
tire being pumped up... and up... and up... until the high pressure
eventually reaches the gap in the Cordillera at Lake Nicaragua... when
the valve rips off and the air rushes out explosively. At this point you
have the entire force of the Great Plains winter freeze combining with
the already strong subtropical high being squeezed through a 99 mile
wide
funnel creating a massive scale venturi. The resultant 'Papagayo Winds'
shriek across the lake at speeds
normally seen only in major hurricanes - but the weather is warm &
the skies are clear. Though a spectacle to behold, the force of nature
witnessed during a 'Papagayo Event' is simply too much for kitesurfing
in the Rivas area. During Papagayo Events the spots at the extreme
northern & southern ends of the lake remain manageable with steady
wind speeds in the 30kt to 40kt range.